


She's Smoke

by PirateBunny



Category: Life Is Strange (Video Game)
Genre: Drug Use, F/M, Medicinal Drug Use, Recreational Drug Use, Smoking, Swearing, Underage Drinking
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-08-13
Updated: 2016-04-23
Packaged: 2018-04-14 12:09:49
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 22
Words: 28,040
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4564143
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/PirateBunny/pseuds/PirateBunny
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Nathan tries to make things work with Max.</p><p>Occurs before the events of Life Is Strange.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. She's Smoke

A cloud of smoke left his lips and dispersed into the night air as he exhaled. It was only the beginning of the first week of school and Nathan was already stressed as all-fuck, and the boys' dorm was not helping one bit. It was loud, chaotic, and the guy in room 110 was having sex with some slut. Nathan wasn't going to be getting to sleep anytime soon.

So he just tilted his head back and inhaled, closing his eyes. When he finally released the smoke from his lungs his body relaxed against the cold brick wall. Then came the whir of an instant camera. Opening his eyes he saw a short brunette shaking the photo she had just taken. "That better not've been of me." He warns, pushing himself off the wall and taking a few steps towards her.

Shoving both the photo and her old-as-fuck camera in her bag, she stutters out, "No, there was an owl." He follows her pointed finger to the tree only a few meters from where he had been standing.

He rolled his eyes as her obvious attempt to lie. "There's no owl, stop lying."

Frantically searching through her bag, she said, "I swear it was there. Look." Pulling the photo back from out of her bag, she holds it out to him with both hands. Nathan took a few more steps towards the girl, closing the distance between them. Taking the photo, he was fully expecting to see himself, leaning against the wall, surrounded by smoke. Instead, he saw an owl perched on a branch and Nathan could have sworn it was looking through the photo right at him.

"Yeah okay, you were right." A smug smile appeared on her lips as she put the photo back with all the rest in her bag. "What-the-fuck-ever." He took another drag of his cigarette, turning his head so he didn't blow the smoke right into the girls face.

 _Well, this is going nowhere_ , she thought. Turning around she went to walk away, but before she took even two steps she stopped and turned back towards him, "You're Nathan Prescott, right?"

Nathan rolled his eyes, "Yeah." He was going to leave it there, but the girls blue eyes were staring expectantly at him. Sighing, he asked, "You are?"

She smiled widely, "Max Caulfield."

Max. Caulfield. Nathan had heard that name somewhere before. It took him a minute to remember who had mentioned her, "So this is the chick Victoria told me about." He muttered under his breath as he brought his cigarette back to his lips.

Max tilted her head to the side, "Sorry, I didn't quite catch that."

"I said, why the hell are you out here without a fucking jacket on?" That wasn't what he'd said and she knew it, but she didn’t feel like starting an argument. Especially seeing as she'd only made one friend so far. Warren was nice and all, but she couldn't go a whole year with only one friend.

Rubbing the back of her neck, Max shifted her weight from one foot to the other, "Oh, uh, I guess I forgot it." She did her best to laugh off how uncomfortable she was feeling.

Nathan raised his eyebrows at her comment, "How the fuck do you forget your jacket?" It's the middle of the night, it's cold as balls outside, and Max forgot her jacket.

Shrugging, Max responded, "I don't know, I wanted to take some pictures so I just grabbed my bag and went." Looking back, Max knows that she didn't really think her actions through.

 _Seriously?_ Nathan scoffed, "Idiot." There was no way she wasn't freezing her dumb butt off out here. If he were in a better mood, he would have offered her his jacket, unfortunately for Max he was not in a better mood.

Ignoring his insult, Max did her best to keep the conversation going, "What are you doing out here?" She regretted asking him that straight away. _He's smoking, duh, Max._

Sick of her presence, he blew one long trail of smoke towards her, "What does it look like?" Max coughed when the second-hand smoke hit her lungs. Waving her hand in the air, she did her best to regain her composure.

Straightening her posture, she tried to look as tall as possible, "It looks like your killing yourself." Max never had been a fan of smoking, she thought it was a bad habit and a waste of time. At least it was just a regular old cigarette and not weed or anything.

"If I wanted to kill myself I'd be dead." Max wanted to think that was a throw-away comment, but something in his voice made her worried for him. "Now, fuck off."

He took a drag of his cigarette looking away from Max for only a few seconds. When he looked back she was gone.


	2. I Pull Her In Slowly

The obnoxious sound of his alarm clock filled the room and Nathan groaned, rolling over and turning it off. It was 5am and he was never going to get used to getting up this early, but it was the best way to avoid the morning rush. He got out of bed and started his morning routine.

Going into the communal bathroom he stripped down and took his morning shower. Once he was done he wrapped a towel around himself and went up to the mirror, running his hands through his wet hair. “Just another day in Blackhell.” Grabbing his hair products he began the monstrous task of styling his hair into perfection.

Staring at himself in the mirror one more time, he does his best to smile, “You own this school, Nathan. Don’t you dare forget that.” Checking the time on his phone, it’s 5:30am. _Time to wake her up, I guess._

_Nathan: --vic get up_

Once he sent the text he walked back into his room, still only in a towel, he was grateful that none of the lazy shits in his dorm were going to be up for at least another half-hour. His phone buzzed in his hand as he opened his door.

_Victoria: --Dont forget medication_

Grabbing the small prescription bottle out of his desk he took the required dosage, swallowing it with a little bit of water. He threw the yellow bottle back into his desk drawer and started getting dressed. It was another 20 minutes until he was fully ready to leave the dorm, but it was still way too early to actually head to class.

_Nathan: --want brekfst??_

_Victoria: --Sure_

_\--Meet me in 5_

Slowly walking through the courtyard in front of the dorms, Nathan was staring at the ground wanting nothing to do with anyone today. He had gotten barely any sleep (no thanks to that idiot in 110) and was in an irritable mood. The only thing that was going to lift his mood was a good breakfast with his best friend.

He had almost reached the oak tree (that had become his and Victorias regular meeting place) when he crashed into someone. Someone who had been moving at an incredibly fast pace. “Are you fucking kidding me?” He yelled, but when he looked in front of him to glare at the person who had turned his mood to absolute shit, no one was there.

“Ow.” Max was sitting on the ground rubbing her head that had collided into Nathan’s chest only moments before. When Nathan finally looked down at her, he sighed. “Can you help me up?” Max reached out an arm, waiting. When Nathan made no move to help her, she spoke again, “Come on, it’s the gentlemanly thing to do.”

Nathan scoffed at that, “And what makes you think I’m a gentleman?” Crossing his arms over his torso, he stared down at her. Giving up, Max lowers her hand and gets herself up off the ground, stumbling slightly once she was standing upright.

She brushes the dirt and grass off her pants, “You’re no help.” Readjusting her bag on her shoulder Max rolls her eyes when she hears Nathan laughing at her. _Jerk is laughing at what a mess I am._

Nathan is staring intently at a piece of grass that is sitting in her brown hair. “That was kind of the point.”  Reaching out, he takes the grass and drops it back onto the ground. _God, that was doing my head in._ “What are doing running back to the dorms?”

Max steps back, blushing slightly at his actions, “None of your business.” She takes another four steps back before running into the dorms. 

\---

“Why did I just see that Max Caulfield running into the dorm, red-faced?” Victoria walked up behind Nathan who hadn’t moved an inch since his brief moment with Max.

Turning around, he shrugged, “Beats me.” He headed towards the courtyard’s exit, “Come on, I’m starving.” _Victoria doesn’t need to know about this right now. It’s not like there’s anything to tell, anyway._  

Nathan listened to Victoria talk about her plans for upcoming vortex club parties for the whole trip to Two Whales, the only relatively good diner that was open this early. “Okay, Nathan, what’s up? You haven’t been listening to me at all.”

He looks up from his barely touched breakfast, “I’m listening.” Nathan did his best to sound convincing, but there was no way anyone on earth would have believed him.

Victoria chuckled at his attempt, “Oh yeah? What did I just say?” She took a piece of bacon of off Nathan’s plate, eating it as she waited for him to try and come up with a half-decent response.

Nathan stared intently at Victoria as he tried to remember what she had been talking about, but absolutely nothing was coming to mind. “Whatever.” Taking a sip from his water, he hoped that Victoria would just drop it and go back to talking about whatever it was she had been talking about. He knew she wouldn’t, but he can hope. Right?

Pointing a perfectly manicured finger towards her best friend, Victoria asked, “What are you thinking about?”

He crossed his arms and leaned back in the booth, “Nothing.” He said curtly, hoping that his response would get her to just leave it alone.

But Victoria never let anything go of anything that easily, “Did something happen between you and Max?” When realisation hit her, she gasped, “Is that why she was blushing?” Her mind raced with all the possibilities.

Nathan cut her imagination short by saying, “I did nothing that would make her blush.”

“Tell me everything.” Nathan went over everything that happened between him and Max, starting from their first meeting which was no longer than 5 hours ago. He told her that he had no idea why he couldn't get her out of his mind and how anything he didn't understand how anything he had done would make her blush, “Okay, here’s what I think. Either Max is just incredibly awkward around people of the opposite sex, or, and this is the more likely of the two, she finds you attractive.”

His posture improved ever-so-slightly as he smirked, responding with, “Well, that’s not really a shock.”

Nodding, Victoria agreed immediately, “You are one very attractive individual.”

Taking another sip from his water, finishing it off, Nathan said, “Damn right I am.” Looking out the window, he watched the sun finish it’s rising and he felt his mood lift with it. _Maybe today won’t be so bad._

Victoria clicked her fingers, snapping Nathan out of thoughts, “So, are you going to do anything about it?” She watched Nathan expectantly. It’d been a while since he’d shown any remote interest in a girl and here he was, talking to Victoria about how he’d spoken to one (admittedly cute) girl twice in the span of only a few hours. And neither conversation had been overly negative for a conversation with Nathan. It was safe to say that she was ecstatic for him.

Nathan thought about his answer for a while before saying, “Do you think I should?” Victoria did seem to have a better grasp on relationships compared to him. He could never tell if someone was seriously interested in him or if it was all in his head. _Does Max like me?_

Shrugging her shoulders, she just said, “Why not? It could be fun. Just live in the moment, Nathan.” She didn’t want to get his hopes up and make him think that this was going to end in a serious relationship or anything. It’s not like she was even really sure that Max liked him, but Nathan was clearly distracted by his conversations with her. It was worth a shot, “Make a game of it.” Okay, maybe that wasn’t the best advice she'd ever given. 

\---

After school, Max was hanging some photos up in her locker and doing her best to make it more personal when Nathan Prescott leaned himself up against locker next to her. “Hey, Caulfield.”

Max looked at him, raising an eyebrow, “What do you want?” From what Warren had been telling her all morning about Nathan, there was no way that he was here for anything good.

Smirking, Nathan said, “Well that’s not very polite.” He looked at what Max was putting up on her locker. Photos of people he presumed to be her parents, and a couple of other people he couldn’t recognise immediately, “I thought you were all about gentlemen and being kind to everyone.”

Grabbing another photo and sticking it on her locker door, she did her best to ignore him, “Well you aren’t a gentleman.”

Moving his body so that he was entirely facing Max, he said, “I’m not.” _Look at me, goddammit._

Closing her locker door, she turned towards Nathan, her eyes went wide when she realised just how close he was standing to her, “Nathan, as interesting as this conversation is, I’d love to know where it’s going.”

He put a hand on her shoulder, gently rubbing circles with his thumb, “I was hoping it’d be leading us to a bedroom, but we can slow that down a bit if you’d like.” He looked her directly in her blue eyes.

His stare was gentle, but suggestive, just like everything he seemed to be. Max was shocked by his sudden mention of a bedroom, and she couldn’t think properly, “Bedroom? What?” Shaking her head slightly, she could only assume she’d heard him wrong. _There was no way he’d actually say that to me._

Nathan laughs at the look of utter confusion on her face, “You’re cute.” His hand is still on her shoulder and he gives it a gentle squeeze, “Come on, let’s go talk somewhere.”

Skeptically, Max asked, “And by talk you mean?” _He’d better not be thinking anything weird._ She was in no mood for funny-business. She was tired and hungry. Last night, after leaving Nathan she’d gone on an admittedly very long walk, taking photos of everything she could. Which, unfortunately meant she completely forgot about breakfast.

“I mean talk.” Smirking again, he asked, “Why? Do you want something else?” He winked.

Max frowned slightly at his little joke, “No, I don’t.” But her frown left her face when she thought about what he might want, “What do you want to talk about?”

Nathan hadn’t actually thought this far. In fact, he hadn’t really thought at all. This was completely spur of the moment and he had no idea where to go from here. But he managed to keep his composure, and responded, “I was hoping we could talk about photography.” Max’s eyes lit up.

\---

She was looking through a stack of his pictures as the two of them sat on a bench out the back of the school where no one ever really went. Max had said that she wanted somewhere private because she was shy about her work, but that she didn’t want to go to either of their rooms, “You have a really cool style, it’s kind of somber and dark, but it’s cool.” She would look at a picture for about 30 seconds before moving onto the next one.

Next to her, Nathan was looking through a pile of her pictures. None of them were bad, but none of them were great. And he was struggling to find the nicest possible way to tell her. Not that she seemed to notice that he hadn’t said anything about her work yet. She was too busy analysing his.

They sat in silence for a few minutes, each looking at the others work. Nathan finally found the words he needed, “And you still seem to be finding your style.”

Max looked up from the photos, “Are you saying I don’t have a style?” Or maybe not.

_Shit, Nathan, think. Don’t fucking insult her._ “I’m saying you’re trying so hard to impress everyone with your photos that it’s not representative of you. It’s not personal.” _Fuck._

Max seemed to think about this for a bit before responding, “And are your photos representative of you?” Nathan should have seen that question coming. It was something people always asked him, and he hated answering it.

“To an extent.” He said, handing Max back her photos.

Max looked sadly at Nathan as she took the photos from him and put them on the bench next to her, “Nathan...” She reached out for his hand.

“What? Don’t look at me like that.” Moving away from her, he looked at the ground, wringing his hands.

She withdrew her hands, doing her best to change the expression on her face, but she didn’t do a very good job of it, “Sorry.” She stopped looking at him for a few moments, and just looked at the school building.

_Just live in the moment, Nathan._ Victoria's words rang in his head. He reached out one of his hands, turned her head back to him, and kissed her.


	3. You've Started, Why Stop?

Still mid lip-lock, two hands found his shoulders and pushed him away, “What the fuck are you doing?” One of Max’s hands was still on his shoulder while the other covered her mouth, “I cannot believe you just did that.”

Nathan apologised, “I’m sorry. I don’t know what came over me, I just-” He was talking quickly, and refusing to make eye contact with Max.

What was she supposed to do? Nathan Prescott just kissed her. She hasn’t even known him for a day and he’s kissed her. And now he’s looking away from her, and is he wringing his hands in his lap? No, he’s pulling at his nails. Why’s he doing that?

Placing the hand that was covering her mouth back on his shoulder, Max said, “Nathan, it’s okay.” He shook his head, he was not okay, and Max had no idea how to deal with this. It was one kiss, one shocked rejection, and he was melting down.

It’s not that she didn’t want to kiss him, or that the kiss was bad. It was just that it caught her off guard, and she pushed him away out of reflex. In fact, for the brief moment that it occurred, it was actually rather pleasant.

“Just...don’t move.” Max said. Slowly she moved her head towards him and her lips touched Nathan’s for what was the second time that day. This kissed lasted much longer than the one before.

Nathan’s hands made their way around Max’s waist, pulling her towards him. Max’s hands moved from his shoulders to the back of his head, gently wrapping her fingers through his hair.

They stayed like that for a few minutes, until they ran out of air. When they pulled out of the kiss, Nathan rested his forehead on hers, “I hope you didn’t do that because you felt sorry for me.”

Max shook her head, “Not because I felt sorry for you. I just really wanted a proper kiss. Wanted to see what it’d be like.” Removing his forehead from hers, Nathan stared at her, one eyebrow raised. “I’m not sure if I like you, but I definitely like kissing you.” Nathan smirked, “So, can we just keep this casual or something?”

Nathan sighed. Casual. He could do casual. Casual was what he was best at. He wasn’t good with proper relationships and remembering anniversary dates. He wasn’t good at letting someone new into his life in such an intimate and emotional way. “Yeah, casual’s good.” Standing up from the bench he collects his pictures, “I do expect to see more of you tonight though.” And with a wink he walked away. Happily surprised with how well everything had gone.

\---

Nathan was sitting on Victoria’s couch, recounting the events that had happened with Max. The more time that passed, the less certain he was about his decision. He needed her opinion. He needed to know he wasn’t being a complete idiot by agreeing with Max, “Really, Nathan? You want to know if I think it’s a good idea?” She questioned from her seat at her desk.

Head in his hands, he said, “You know you’re better at this than me.”

“That’s true, but I can’t tell you if it’s a good idea or not.” Nathan frowned, making Victoria sigh. She knew that he needed advice, he always has, but sometimes she just wished he’d trust his gut. “If you’re happy with it, then it’s a good idea. If you’re not, then it’s not. Simple as that.”

Great. Now all he had to do was make sure that this was what he wanted. He supposed he could work that out later that night with Max.

He took his phone from out of his pocket and sent a quick text.

_Nathan: --my room at 8_

_\--room 111_

While waiting for a response he lay down on the couch, tapping his fingers against the phone, "Chill, Nathan." Victoria said, "It's only been a minute." Just as she finished talking, his phone buzzed.

_Max: --sure thing. see you there_


	4. Watching Her, Holding Her

Nathan paced around his room, glancing at every item, checking that he didn’t have anything embarrassing laying around in plain sight. Any minute now, Max was going to knock on Nathan’s bedroom door. This was happening. This was really happening.

A light tapping sound came from the other side of his door and Nathan had to stop himself from running to open it. As calmly as he could, he opened the door which revealed what appeared to be a very nervous Max. Shifting her weight from one foot to the other, she wasn’t looking at him, “What’s wrong?” He found himself asking.

“Nothing, it’s just-” She sighed loudly as she finally looked up at him, “My friend, Warren, he’s been telling me a few things about you. And now...” Her eyes drifted again and she was now looking down at her converse clad feet.

Nathan knew where she was going with this. He should have seen this coming sooner. Max Caulfield was a nice girl, a good girl, of course she was friends with people who only knew the bad things about him, “Now you’re not sure you want to continue this, I get it.” He was about to close the door and shut her out, possibly forever, when the sound of loud, obnoxious teenage boys began filling the corridor.

He instinctively grabbed ahold of Max’s wrist and pulled her into his room, slamming his door shut. Max, shocked from his rough actions, lost her balance, but just as she was falling to the ground, Nathan’s arms wrapped around her waist, catching her and holding her close, “Be careful.” Letting go of her, Nathan went to sit on his couch, “You can go once everything’s settled outside.”

Max nodded, and joined him on the couch, gazing around his room as she did so. She thought his room was cold and dark, almost as if he was trying to bring the photos he took to life within his room. _His room represents his photos, and his photos represents him_. Max had a million questions to ask Nathan, all pertaining to the rumours Warren had told her about, but after briefly looking around his room, there was one that she wanted to know the truth about.

“Hey,” She broke the silence with her quiet voice, waiting for Nathan to respond in some way. When he looked at her, she continued, “Is it true you tried to steal Tobanga?”

Nathan sighed, he had been hoping for her to apologise, or say that she was just messing around before and that Warren hadn’t actually said anything to her and she was all for this relationship, whatever it is, “Why does everyone want to know about that?”

Shrugging, Max answered, “I suppose it's because it’s a funny thing to picture.” She chose to not mention the contrast between the image of Nathan trying with all his might to steal a totem pole and the appearance of his room.

“In short, yes.” Just like their first conversation, Nathan was prepared to leave his answer short, but once again Max was staring expectantly at him with her big blue eyes, “I was drunk and it seemed like a good idea at the time.” He didn’t really like thinking about that night, for many reasons, he hadn’t been in a very good place at that time and right now he was just trying to move passed it.

Luckily for Nathan, Max seemed to accept his short version of the story. Nodding her head, she went back to looking around his room. Nathan joined her in this, glancing at the different items scattered around his room, he tried to see things the way she was seeing them. What she would be thinking about when she saw the posters above his bed, or the projector on his roof. What she would think happened when she saw the broken lamp or _\- wait - was that - oh shit no._ Sitting on his bedside table was some of his medication. Nathan wasn’t ready for all the questions that were sure to come out of her mouth when she saw them and realised what exactly they were. This was meant to be casual, no in-depth discussions about emotions or mental-states.

He looked in Max’s direction, watching where her eyes went, slowly they moved closer and closer towards the direction of the pills. Just before they did, he grabbed her and pulled her into a kiss. He heard Max gasp from the sudden lip-lock and felt her slowly respond to his movements. He watched as she closed her eyes and he felt himself get lost within the moment.

Time seemed to stand still as the pair kissed. Max’s hands were running over Nathan’s clothed torso while Nathan had his fingers laced through her short brown hair. Max pulled away from the kiss breathless, but Nathan hadn’t had quite enough. He pulled slightly on her hair, pulling her head backwards. He kissed his way from her lips to her neck, the moment his lips hit her neck she let out an involuntary moan. The sound made Nathan smirk against her skin and it encouraged him to keep going.

He briefly stopped his actions to stand up. Reaching out his hand, he guided Max to his bed and instructed her to lie down. Max was soon lying on Nathan’s insanely comfortable bed with him on top of her kissing her neck once more.

Her hands quickly found his head, and she tangled her fingers in his blonde hair. It was softer than she thought it would be, she was expecting it to be filled with more product. _Think about his hair later, Max._ She internally scolded herself. Closing her eyes, she focused only on Nathan and the feeling of his mouth on her skin, his cold hands as one of them found their way underneath his shirt, the way he-

A loud knocking coming from Nathan’s door forced the two back into reality, “Shit.” Nathan said under his breath, “Hide.” Max shot up from the bed and quickly looked around the room, searching for a place where she wouldn’t be seen, “Fucking hell, just get on the other side of the bed and lie down for crying out loud.” Nathan angrily whispered at her.

Max did as he said and when Nathan was convinced that she’d be out of sight from anyone standing at the door, he opened it. Only to be greeted by Warren, the science nerd who lived right across the hall from him and who just so happened to be friend of Max’s who had been telling her things that were making her question whether or not the two of them were a good idea.

Anger was brewing inside of him at the sight of Warren, fists clenched Nathan tried (and failed) to speak calmly, “What the fuck do you want?”

Warren spoke softly, nervously, “I heard moaning.” Looking over Nathan’s shoulder he tried to see into the room, but Nathan kept moving his own head into Warren’s line of vision.

“So what?” Nathan impatiently asked.

Warren did his best to get his words out, “I just wanted...” He trailed off as he realised how mad Nathan looked. It wasn’t his usual ‘everyone should just leave me alone’ mad, it was different, more agitated.

Nathan wasn’t in the mood to play games. All he wanted was for Warren to leave so that he could go back to what he was doing moments before, “Just wanted what? Just wanted to see if I was doing anything that you could use to get me in trouble? Just wanted to see if the rumours were true? Just wanted to be a white knight and save the poor, innocent girl you were sure I was abusing? Just wanted to get in on the action? What?” He must have said something that triggered a nerve of Warren’s because suddenly, the younger boys eyes turned angry.

Warren pushed Nathan backwards into the room, and barged passed him. His eyes scanned around the room, trying to find anything that seemed out of place. Nathan started yelling, “Who the fuck do you think you are? Who the fuck do you think I am?” Although his words came out of his mouth like venom, Nathan was filled with fear as Warren neared his bed. Every step leading him closer to finding Max.

As Warren began walking around the bed, looking at the wall on the far-side of the room, Nathan saw slight movement in his peripheral vision coming from underneath his bed. Max. She was crawling under Nathan’s bed reaching an arm out towards Nathan, he moved quickly towards her. Grabbing her hand he helped to pull her out from under the bed and up onto her feet. Max moved as quickly as she could, out of the room and into the corridor, planting herself right up against the wall next to the door. She breathed slowly, trying to regain her composure before she even thought about how she was going to get the rest of the way out of the dorms without being spotted.

Back inside the room, Warren was looking out the window trying to determine if someone had recently escaped through it, “Look, I don’t know what you were hoping to find, but there’s nothing here. Now get the fuck out of my room before I report you for fucking trespassing.”

“Alright, alright. Chill, dude.” Warren finally admitted defeat, leaving Nathan’s he walked across the hall to his own bedroom door, his eyes never leaving the ground. He walked right passed Max, who was holding her breath in fear. When he finally entered his room and shut the door behind him, she started breathing again.

Poking his head out from his doorway, Nathan grabbed Max by the wrist once more, and pulled her into his room. Max shut the door behind them, grinning ear-to-ear. Sure she felt a little guilty for hiding from Warren, her first real friend here at Blackwell, but she couldn’t deny how much fun it had been to play ninja.

Nathan just stared at Max as she smiled up at him as if this had been one of the best days of her life. It was then that Nathan realised he had no fucking clue what was going on inside her head. Her emotions seemed to be all over the place, jumping from one thing to the next. She was happy about lying to her friend, happy about crawling underneath his bed (which he still couldn’t actually believe she’d managed to fit under). Meanwhile, Nathan felt as if his heart was going to burst from the stress of it all.

Her happiness made no sense, but it was by no means unwelcome. If Victoria were here, he’d be telling her that Max’s happiness would be good for him, that he should try to mimic it, understand it, embrace it. So he did.

He wrapped his arms around Max’s short body and just embraced her. Holding her close to him, her head rested on his chest. Eventually her arms reciprocated the gesture and wrapped around his frame. It was in this moment that the two of them noticed the differences between them. Max was short, relatively thin and she always seemed to have an aura of innocence around her, even on the gloomiest of days. While Nathan was tall, sickly skinny and always seemed to be followed by darkness, even on the sunniest of days.

Would they ever be able to make this work?


	5. Holding My Heart

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you to everyone who has left kudos and comments on the story. I truly appreciate each and every one of you.  
> This was originally meant to end in about three more chapters, but I’ve decided to extend the plot out a bit more. However, I’m not really sure how I feel about this chapter, so I apologise in advance.

Nathan and Max had stayed hugging for what seemed to be only a few seconds when Max’s phone buzzed from within her pocket. “Ignore it.” Nathan whispered to her, pulling her in closer to him, revelling in the warmth and comfort that came from holding her.

Max closed her eyes when she felt his arms tighten around her. His arms were making her feel strangely at ease, unfortunately she knew that she couldn’t stay in Nathan’s room forever. Someone would surely find them. Warren had almost caught them only minutes earlier, “What if it’s Warren?” Max asked as she snuggled into Nathan’s chest a little bit more.

Nathan contently sighed at her movements, gently resting his chin on the top of her head.“Even more reason to ignore it.” Before Warren’s actions earlier, Nathan hadn’t really had any opinion of the guy. He was just the person who lived across the hall and nothing more. But now? Now Nathan has nothing nice to say about him, the only redeeming quality he has in Nathan’s eyes is that he’s friends with Max.

Kissing her forehead, he reluctantly pulls out of the embrace, saying, “Go on, I know you want to check it.” Sitting down on his bed, Nathan watched Max as she fished her phone out of her pocket and typed a quick reply. “Who was it?” Nathan asked when she carelessly tossed the phone onto his couch.

Max sat down next to him, resting her head on his shoulder, “Just my parents.” She said.

There was a knocking on door and Max jumped up, preparing to hide behind the bed again. But Nathan made a ‘stop’ motion with his hand as he called out, “Who is it?”

It was a few moments before the person on the other side of the door responded, “Justin. I got some shit for you.” Nathan lowered his hand and stood up.

Max took ahold of Nathan’s wrist and whispered, “Shit?” 

“Drugs.” Nathan whispers back as if it were the most obvious thing in the world. To be fair, it was pretty obvious. Justin was pretty well known for being high the majority of the time, but Max never thought that he’d be giving out any of his stash to others.

Max also couldn’t believe that Nathan was going to take drugs from another student while they were on campus. There was no way it was a good idea, the chances of getting caught were way too high, “You have got to be kidding me.”

Sighing, Nathan was about to respond to Max’s shock when Logan started knocking again and talking rather loudly, “Dude, you gonna come get it or am I gonna keep it for myself?”

“Yeah, I’m coming.” Nathan yelled back. Heading to the door, he made sure he opened the door enough so that he could see Justin, but not so far that Max would be able to be seen. Not that Justin would really care that she was in there.

With a few quiet verbal exchanges, the two separated and Nathan closed the door. Returning to Max he held up a little baggie, as if he were offering the contents to her, “You are not taking any of that with me here.” Max said, arms crossed over her chest.

Nathan raised his eyebrows, “Seriously?” Sure she didn’t seem to happy that he had been smoking that first night they met, but Nathan never even considered that she might have a problem with drugs. Almost every student in to school took them, and Nathan ignorantly assumed that she was one of them.

Arms still crossed, Max responded in the most serious voice she could muster, “Seriously. If you light any of that up, I’m leaving.” She didn’t care if he took drugs, that was his own personal business, but that doesn’t mean she wanted to be around when it happened.

“Fine.” He really wanted to take a little bit of it and hopefully relieve some of his pent up stress, but he wasn’t about to make Max feel uncomfortable, and he didn’t want her to leave just yet.

Nathan walked across his room to his desk and put the baggie inside his desk drawer. While his back was turned, Max was looking around his room once more, and her eyes landed on the one thing in the whole room he didn’t want her to see.

A little yellow container filled with pills. She considered asking him about it, but decided against it. It was a little too personal of a thing to be asking someone she’d just met. Besides, if he wanted her to know, he’d tell her. For now, she decided to pretend it didn’t exist.

Joining her back on the bed, Nathan took hold of Max’s hand, rubbing his thumb in circles over the top of it, “So, do you want to stay the night?” Max’s face very quickly turned very red, “We don’t have to do anything. It’s just that it’s getting late and I just thought it’d be nice or something. I don’t know.” Nathan watch as she thought it over. When she finally nodded her head, Nathan couldn’t help but smile.

Nathan got up from the bed and, facing away from Max, started removing his jacket and shirt. “Uh...” Max said. Nathan chuckled slightly at her confused and nervous sound.

“Don’t worry, Max. The pants will stay on.” Nathan said while chuckling slightly. Folding his clothes, he placed them on his couch. He kicked off his shoes and turned back around, facing a very red Max Caulfield. She was slowly removing her jacket and shoes, and once they were off Nathan took them and placed them next to his, “Is that all you want to take off? I mean, no judgement, but those jeans don’t look like they’ll be comfortable to sleep in.”

Max shrugged and considered her options for a minute. Nathan really didn’t seem to care what she chose to do, and she did feel comfortable around him. Getting up off the bed, she shimmied out of her jeans, folded them, and placed them on top of her jacket. She didn’t normally fold her clothes like this, but it seemed to be what Nathan was used to, so she just followed suit.

Pulling down the covers, Nathan lay down in the bed. Tapping his hand on the mattress next to him he motioned for Max to join him. Once she was lying down next to him, he pulled the blankets over the two of them.

Wrapping an arm around Max he pulled her towards him. He wasn’t generally a snuggly guy, but with Max, he constantly wanted to be in contact with her. He wanted to feel her warmth and protect her entire being. Unfortunately big-spoon wasn’t something he was finding to be all that comfortable. He could tell that he wasn’t going to be able to get any sleep if he stayed like this.

Max was feeling the same way, little-spoon was not for her, it never had been. It made her feel smaller than usual and even though most people felt protected when there was arms around them as they slept, she felt vulnerable. Max took Nathan’s hand and removed it from her body.

Turning her body so she was facing Nathan, Max stared into his eyes and smiled at him, “Sorry.” She said.

“All good, I don’t think I could have gotten any sleep like that anyway.” The sentence came out harsher than he had intended, but Max didn’t seem to notice, so Nathan continued talking, “Um, do you think we could maybe try it the other way?” He asked. Max’s smile grew wider and she nodded.

When Nathan was facing the other way, they positioned themselves so that Max was now the big-spoon. Both of them sighing happily at the comfort this gave the two of them. Max’s arms were like a protective barrier around Nathan’s body. Keeping all of the negative thoughts out of his mind, at least for the time being. And Max loved the feeling of another being sleeping next to her without the confining feeling of their arms around her body.

The two of them drifted off into a happy sleep.


	6. Keep It Simple

The bedroom was bathing in the morning sunlight from his window. Nathan’s eyes drifted open. He could feel Max’s arm loosely hanging over his body and her chest pressed up against his back, he felt content in this moment. As if he were a normal teenager who was living a perfectly normal life.

He removed Max’s arm from his body and sat himself up. As he was sitting on the edge of his bed and rubbing his eyes, Max stirred. He turned to watch her as she ever so slowly woke up and remembered just exactly where she was, “Ugh, what time is is?” She asked when she saw that Nathan was awake as well.

That was a good question. Nathan had no clue what time it was, he hadn’t even thought to check until now. He got up to go check the time on this phone, “Uh...six fifty-four.” Nathan stated. _Ah, fuck._ Nathan had been so comfortable with Max last night that he’d forgotten to set his alarm and now he's slept in and if he left his room he’d be greeted by what could quite easily be compared to a corridor full of monkeys. Stupid, testosterone filled monkeys.

“Shit!” Max exclaimed when the time registered in her mind. As she attempted to jump out of bed, her foot got caught on the blankets and she fell to the floor. Nathan was about to help her up and make sure she was okay when, without even acknowledging the fact that she’d just face-planted into the floor, she got up and started putting her jeans, shoes and jacket back on, “Nathan, how do I get out of here?”

You could hear all the other guys in the dorm getting ready, there was no way Max would be able to get out without being seen...unless, “The window?” Max stared at Nathan as if he had just told her to jump out of an airplane without a parachute.

She almost laughed as she asked, “You want me to climb out the window?” It had to be a joke. There was no way she was going to do that.

Nathan’s phone went off, informing him of a new text. He picked it up before speaking, “What other choice do you have?” He asked while glancing down at his phone as it went off three more times. _Victoria._

Max curtly responded, “I’m not doing that.” She crossed her arms over her body, staring intently at Nathan as he unlocked his phone to check his messages.

Leaning his body against his desk, “Fine. Get caught in here.” It was way too early in the day to be dealing with this. He read over the messages that Victoria sent him.

_Victoria: --Nate what the hell!_

_\--Why didnt you wake me?_

_\--Whatevs it doesnt matter_

_\--Have you taken meds yet?_

He was about to type out a response when Max loudly sighed. Looking up from his phone he saw Max slowing walking towards him, “Fine.” Nathan smiled slightly. He pushed himself off his desk and helped to move his things off his desk so they weren’t in the way.

Max climbed up on the desk and attempted to open the window. It got a stuck about halfway up. She tried pushing it up again and again. When it didn’t budge she slammed her fist against the wall next to the window.

Arms went around her waist, “Woah, chill. It’s just a window.” Nathan said, “I don’t open it very often so it's just not used to it.” Removing his arms from her body, he got up on the desk next to her. “On the count of three, we both push.” Max nodded in agreement and he counted down.

It took quite a bit of effort from the two of them, but after a few minutes they finally got the window un-stuck and all the way open.

His hand in hers, she slowly climbed out the window, getting her footing right before letting go of him. The climb to the ground wasn’t too far (thank goodness Nathan’s room was only one floor up) but that didn’t make the fall into the bushes any more pleasant.

Without even giving her a chance to properly say good-bye, Nathan shut his window and began putting everything back in their places.

She was left outside all alone, with not much time to get back into her dorm and ready for the day. There was no way in hell she was going to be showing up to class in the same clothes as the day before. Okay, so might wear the same jacket...maybe the same jeans. Depends how much time she had. But she was definitely going to be changing her shirt.

Climbing out of the bushes and running up to the dorm steps, she had almost made it unseen. Almost, “Max?” The calm voice of her favourite teacher reached her ears, “What are you doing?” She turned around to face him, but she couldn’t bring herself to look him directly in the eyes. So she settled for the tip of his nose. _At least I kind of look as if I’m looking at him._

She quickly stumbled out an excuse, “I-uh, forgot my books. You see, when I woke up I was starving so I was in such a rush to get some breakfast that I completely forgot to pick up my books for today’s class.” Admittedly, it wasn’t the best lie she’d ever told.

Mr. Jefferson almost laughed as he responded, “Tip for the future, Max, don’t overcomplicate your lies.” Adjusting his glasses slightly, he continued, “I’m glad I ran into you though. Now I can give you a heads up on a competition that I’ll be announcing today.” He smiled down at her as he spoke.

Her titled to the side, short brown hair falling slightly over her face, “A competition?” She asked.

“Yes.” He stated matter-of-factly, “It’s called ‘The Everyday Heroes’ contest. The winner gets to go to San Francisco, accompanied by me. It’s a wonderful opportunity to kick-start a photography career.”

It took everything in Nathan’s power to not smash his window open with his laptop and yell at Max, telling her to run. _Not her. Please, God, not her._  


	7. Can You Ever Make Her Understand?

After classes Nathan found himself, as usual, in Victoria’s dorm room. “I just...I don’t like it.” He had been telling her about the conversation he had seen from his window that morning between Max and Mr. Jefferson. The scene had been playing in his head all day and he needed to tell someone about it. Even if he couldn’t tell them everything.

He was sitting on Victoria’s bed, his right leg shaking up and down. Victoria was sat at her desk, half-heartedly typing out a homework assignment. She had been struggling to answer the same one question for the past half hour.

Giving up on her homework and turning in her desk chair to face him, she asked, “Why do you care so much?” It was a fair question. She didn’t know what was going on and would hopefully never know, but it put him on edge.

“I can’t tell you.” He unintentionally snapped, his leg kicking out slightly as he spoke. His hands balled into fists and he could feel his nails digging into the skin of his palm.

Victoria tried to make her voice as soothing as possible, “Nate, it’s me. You can tell me anything.” She placed a hand on his knee and smiled at him, hoping that maybe he would finally confide in her about everything that was happening.

It was clear that something was up with him, and it wasn’t the same stuff that had been happening in the past. It was something new, and even though he clearly wanted to tell her, he never did. Needless to say, the fact that he didn’t feel he could tell her, hurt her.

He un-balled one of his fists and put his hands on top of hers, “You don’t understand, Tori.” He mumbled.

“Then explain it to me.” She told him, and he was tempted to tell her. To explain every bit of shit his father and Mr. Jefferson were putting him through. Every terrible and disgusting thing that her favourite teacher was doing. Open her eyes to what a piece of shit he actually was.

But he knew that he couldn’t. Those fuckers would find out, they always do. And then it all just gets worse for him, “I can’t.” He pushed the hand on his knee away. Moving backwards on the bed, he curled himself into a ball, leaning against the wall.

The sight was heartbreaking to Victoria. Whenever he did this he looked so hopeless, as if he was going to break any minute. Even though she was prepared to help him in any way that she could, she always felt that she was unable to, that his problems were so much bigger than her attempts to help and comfort him could handle. That, of course, wasn’t going to stop her from trying to help her best friend, “Come on, Nate.”

With his head hidden behind his knees, she could barely hear him say, “No.” His head was shaking from side-to-side as he spoke.

Victoria got up from her chair and took a step towards her bed, “Why not?” She asked fully knowing that she was pushing it, but she didn’t care. Nathan had been hiding this from her for too long, and she didn't want to be kept in the dark any longer.

In a mere moment, he was resting on his knees, hands balled into fists again and tears were threatening to spill from his eyes, “Goddammit, Victoria, stop fucking asking.” He picked up a pillow and threw it across the room, hitting Victoria’s brand new printer before it fell onto the floor.

All thoughts of finding out what he was hiding left her mind the moment the words hit her ears. She put her hands in the air as if she were surrendering, “Fine. Fine. I’ll stop.” Putting her arms back down to her side she watched as Nathan brought himself back under control. It took a few minutes of performing the coping routines he'd been taught over the years by various psychiatrists, but he finally calmed down.

Scooting off the bed he went to the door, “I’m sorry, Tori, I just can’t. Not yet.” She nodded. Sure he couldn’t tell her right now, but maybe he will be one day soon. And even if he couldn’t she was going to stay by him. He opened the door, but before he walked out of the room, he turned back to her and said, “If you’re having trouble with your work, why don’t you get one of the Vortex chicks to help you out?” Whipping her phone out of her pocket, Victoria fired off a text, smiling at her best friend as he left the room, wiping at his eyes.

_Victoria: --Court come to my room_

_\--Now_

\---

Max was leaving her room to go and meet up with Kate, a girl she had met in class earlier in the day. They were going to go out to a small cafe not far from the school to get some tea and just get to know each other. Max was actually rather excited about it, their dorm rooms were on the same floor so she had seen Kate a couple of times over the past few days. She seemed like a really sweet girl, the kind of person who saw the good in everyone even if it may not actually be there. And although some people would call that being naive, Max saw it as being hopeful. Hopeful that if you're kind to someone they'll be kind back, which is the way Max thought it should be.

Just as she had shut her door, Nathan emerged from the room across the hall looking as if he had been crying. When his eyes trailed up from the ground and locked with hers, he immediately began to blush, “I-uh...” He stuttered out, “I was just visiting Victoria.”

Victoria...she had been oddly nice to Max in class today. It was a huge contrast to the first day of class when Victoria hadn’t even acknowledged the existence of anyone besides Mr. Jefferson. Today Victoria had sat herself in the chair next to Max’s and actually helped her out whenever she was confused with what Mr. Jefferson had been explaining. And that was more often than Max truly cared to admit.

When Max didn’t say anything, Nathan panicked and quickly shot out, “It’s not like me and her are dating or anything. We’re just friends. She’s my best friend, nothing romantic at all.”

“Oh, okay, cool.” She shrugged her shoulders as she spoke. It wasn't really any of her business as to why he was hanging out with Victoria. Besides, that actually helped to clear up why Victoria was being so nice to her today. If they were best friends then there was no way that Victoria didn't know what was going on between Max and Nathan. Not that any much had really happened between the two of them just yet.

Shuffling on his feet, Nathan did his best to find something that would keep a conversation going, “Where are you off to?” He asked, secretly hoping that she’d say she was just about to go looking for him. That she missed him. And that today in class she realised how hopeless of a teacher Mr. Jefferson was and that she was going to drop his class right away.

“I was just on my way to go see a girl in my class. Her name’s Kate.” He felt his heart drop slightly, and then actually registered the name that Max had said. Kate. If she’s in Mr. Jefferson’s class then it must be Kate Marsh. _Fucking hell. Is Max a magnet for trouble? Of course she is, first she starts a kind-of relationship with me, then she’s Mr. Jefferson’s next target, and now she’s friends with Kate fucking Marsh._ Nathan wanted to punch something, someone, someone in particular. A hipster glasses wearing creep of a teacher.

Nathan did not look okay at all, his mouth was in a death-scowl, his blue eyes looked like a black abyss, and his fists were balled up so tightly that Max wouldn’t have been surprised if he drew blood, “Are you okay?” She quietly asked, scared that if she spoke to loudly he’d break.

Speaking through his gritted teeth, Nathan replied, “I’m fine. Just...be careful.” After slamming his fist against wall behind him, he stormed out of the building.

Watching him as he left the building, Max couldn’t quite work out what he had meant by his comment. _Careful of what? Careful of Kate? Kate seems harmless._  Max didn’t even realise that she had been standing in the same spot, staring at the end of the corridor, even after Nathan was long gone.

“Max?” Kate’s sweet voice broke Max out of her little trance. Kate had just left her room and was now staring at Max as if she was as fragile as Max had thought Nathan to be only a few minutes earlier, “Are you ready to go?” She asked.

Slightly shaking her head a couple of times with her eyes closed, Max brought herself back into reality. She was going to go get some tea with Kate, she was broadening her friendship base, Nathan should be the last thing on her mind right now. And yet for the rest of the afternoon, he was all she could think about.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you to everyone who has read and enjoyed this story so far.  
> I'm just going to put it out there that my tumblr is psychotic-bunny.tumblr.com I am in desperate need of more life is strange blogs to follow, so follow me and I'll check your blog out. Yep...I'm awkward.


	8. Stay Focused

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is a really really short update. I apologise for how short it is and how long it has been since my last update, I have unfortunately been suffering from writers block.

The feeling of the uneven trunk of the tree against his back, the recently mowed lawn underneath him. Smoke clouded around him as he exhaled. Time alone was all he wished for. Time to sit alone and have the midday sun coat his body. Closing his eyes he basked in the warmth. Something he hadn’t done in a really long time.

Mr. Fuckerson was targeting Max. That much was clear to him. Honestly, he should have put two and two together sooner. The way Victoria spoke about Max those first few days, how she would say that Mr. Jefferson seemed to be favouriting Max. Always calling on her in class, trying to get her to answer questions, and talking to her before and after class about how talented she was.

Of course, Victoria sounded annoyed whenever she spoke about all the attention Max was getting, but that doesn’t mean that her comments were any less reliable.

Fuckerson was a careful guy, in anyone else’s eyes, his actions would just look like a teacher who was giving slight favouritism to one of his students. Almost every teacher was guilty of it at some point. But Nathan was in the unfortunate situation of knowing better.

Nathan’s eyes had been closed for only a few moments when a figure moved in front of him, blocking out the sun. Stealing away the warmth he was finally starting to enjoy. Grimacing with his eyes still closed, he said, “If you know what’s good for you. Move.”

An almost inaudible laugh came from the person in front of him, “You sound so threatening, Nathan.” At the sound of Max’s voice Nathan’s eyes shot open and he scrambled to his feet.

With the cigarette in his mouth, he brushed the grass and dirt off of his pants, “Sorry. Didn’t know it was you.” He said after removing the cigarette from his lips and exhaling the smoke in his lungs off to the side so not to hit Max in the face with the smoke.

Laughing, a little louder this time, Max responded, “I figured.” Looking around at the emptiness that surrounded them, Max became incredibly aware of the fact they were practically alone. Except for the few stray students who were lying on the ground, scattered almost evenly off in the distance. “What are you up to?”

Nathan glanced at his cigarette and raised his eyebrows at Max when he looked back at her. A smirk playing on his lips. Making Max blush slightly. Both at the stupidity of her question and at the look on his face that she could only describe as playfully condescending.

When her cheeks were tinted pink, Nathan couldn’t help himself. All he could think about was the fact that she was the cutest person he had ever had the pleasure of seeing. Every thought of the danger that Max was potentially getting closer and closer to with each passing moment left his mind.

Dropping the cigarette onto the ground he put it out with his foot, and stepped closer to Max. One of his hands rests on her shoulder before slowly running the back of his hand down her arm until it came in contact with her hand. Entwining his fingers with Max’s, he moved his head closer and rested his forehead against hers.

“Nathan...” Max whispered out, barely loud enough for Nathan to hear, “This doesn’t feel very ‘casual’.” She continued, as she closed her eyes. Revelling in the feeling of the contact between them.

Quickly pressing his lips to hers in a quick kiss, he replied, “I don’t care.” Squeezing her hand tighter and wrapping his other hand around her waist he pulled her closer, “Come with me.” He said, leading her towards the dorms as Max obediently followed him away from the front of the school and away from the possibility of a certain someone’s prying eyes.


	9. Leave Them Alone

The pair had almost made it into the dorms with nothing more than a few curious and confused looks, much to the relief of Nathan, when Warren came walking down the stairs of the dorm building. Stopping at the bottom of the steps, he stared at the couple, disappointment not-so-subtly filling his eyes.

When Warren made no indication of him either a) moving out of their way, or b) saying anything to either of them, Nathan pushed passed him, pulling Max along with him.

Easily pulling herself free from Nathan’s gentle grip on her wrist, she turned back around, “Hey, Warren.” She said. Leaning against the front door of the dorm, Nathan crossed his arms and scowled.

Catching himself before he smiled too widely, Warren replied, “Hey, Max. Where are you two off to?” He gestured to Nathan, causing Max to look back at the clearly angry teenager that was standing behind her.

Slightly stuttering out her answer, Max said, “Oh, um, I’m not actually entirely sure.” Of course, she did have quite a large suspicion as to where he was taking her. They were standing out the front of the boys’ dorms for crying out loud. But for she felt slightly embarrassed admitting where she was going to Warren, so she settled with feigning ignorance and asking, “Nathan, where are you taking me?”

In that moment, if Max had looked close enough she may have been able to see slight sadness at her ignorance (fake or not) behind the deep scowl that Nathan was presenting on his face. “That’s none of his business.” He answered, refusing to face either Max or Warren.

Unfortunately, she didn’t look close enough and simply saw the anger and annoyance, “But it’s mine.” Max insisted.

“Ugh.” Nathan scoffed while rolling his eyes. Pushing himself off of the wall, he walked into the building. But before he shut the door behind him, he said, “I don’t have time for this. If you want to come with me, then come.”

When the door was shut and Nathan was clearly out of earshot, Warren quietly said to Max, “Wow, someone’s in a bad mood. Be careful, okay?”

She laughed slightly at his worry, “Don’t worry about me.” It doesn’t matter how many stories she heard about Nathan and the crazy things he’s done over the years, she never even once considered the thought of him hurting her in any way.

“If I don’t who will?” Warren asked.

As sweet as the comment was, it was almost slightly insulting that he thought that Max couldn’t watch over herself, “I can take care of myself, Warren.”

“I know. I know. You’re Max the ninja. Kicking butt everywhere you go.” Warren responded enthusiastically.

Max laughed a genuine laugh at his comment, “You know it.” Looking back at the door to the dorms, she could feel Nathan’s bedroom calling to her. Pulling her towards that comfortable bed of his, “I better go. I’ll talk to you later, yeah?”

All enthusiasm left both Warren’s facial expression and his voice as he said, “Of course.”

Walking through the big heavy doors, Max felt both unhappy for leaving Warren alone after only talking to him for a couple of minutes, and excited at the thought of being alone with Nathan again.

\----------

When Max entered Nathan’s room he was lying on his couch with a lighter in his hand and an unlit joint between his lips. Eyes fixed on the roof, he wasn’t moving. It wasn’t until he heard his bedroom door shut that he sat up on the couch.

Removing the joint from his mouth to talk, he asked, “Did you have to talk to that dork?”

“Hey, Warren’s my friend.” Max defensively said. Sure, she hasn’t known Warren for all that long, but he was her first friend here at Blackwell and she wasn’t just going to allow someone who she’d only met a few days ago to speak badly about him. No matter who they are.

Rolling his eyes Nathan said, “Whatever.” Placing the joint back into his mouth, he lifted the lighter to the end of it. In one quick movement a flame ignited from the lighter.

“Dude, I told you that if you light one of those things up that I’m leaving.” It seemed as though everyone in the school smoked. Whether it be drugs or just your regular everyday cigarettes. They were everywhere. Avoiding everyone who had smoke in their lungs was becoming tiring and almost difficult at Blackwell. As much as she wished she was okay with people smoking around her, she wasn’t. She may never be.

Nathan almost laughed at not only her being so sensitive about smoking, but also at her calling him ‘dude’. But at the same time, he felt slightly uncomfortable by the term coming from her, “Don’t call me ‘dude’. It’s weird.” He said, speaking with the joint still between his lips.

Confused, Max asked, “Why’s it weird?” She called pretty much everyone dude at least once.

Taken aback by her ignorance to the situation he couldn’t believe he had to explain it to her, “We make out.”

Rolling her eyes, Max was amazed that he famous Nathan Prescott was uncomfortable with being called ‘dude’ by people who he’s kissed, “We’ve made out, like, once.”

Raising two fingers, almost making a peace sign at Max, he stated, “Twice.”

“Whatever.” He was teasing her with the flame, slowly inching it towards the joint. Every movement threatening to light the joint, “Seriously, if you keep smoking that I’m leaving.”

Finally properly lighting the joint, he stated, “I need it.” Max can leave if she wants, he wasn’t going to force her to stay.

Of course he wanted her to stay with him, but right now what he needed was to numb some of thoughts that were running through his mind. He needed a distraction from the sick and fucked up reality that is Mr. Fuckerson.

She thought that he’d put it away, that he wasn’t actually going to smoke it. And yet he did. Max hadn’t been joking when she’d said that she’d leave. Heading towards the door she said, “Fine. Bye.”

Removing the joint from his mouth and exhaling a cloud of smoke, he mockingly said, “Don’t let the door hit ya, dude.”

“Don’t get too high, dude.” She responded in the same mocking tone. Shutting the door behind her, she was gone. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> What am I doing? I don't know.


	10. Time To Bond

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Just know that I have played Episode 5, and despite that I’m still going with my original rough idea of a plot for this story. Although I will try to keep things as close to canon as I can.

Walking down the boys’ dormitory hallway towards Nathan’s room, Victoria was staring at her phone, skimming over all the texts that she had sent Nathan over the past day. He hadn’t responded to a single one and she was beginning to get worried about him. It would usually only take him an hour at most to reply, no matter what he was doing.

Putting the phone into her pocket, she looked up and began paying attention to her surroundings. The boys’ dormitory always seemed dirty, sticky, gross. There was graffiti all over the walls, toilet paper strewn all over the floor, not that the girls’ dorms were much cleaner. It’s just that she always felt as if there was a gross substance coating all of the surface’s in the boys’ dorm. Something that she would do anything to avoid coming into contact with.

Just as she was reaching Nathan’s dorm, Max exited the room looking more than annoyed. “Oh hey, Victoria,” Max said after she had shut the door behind her. “Nathan can be a real ass sometimes, you know that?” She continued.

Victoria couldn’t help but laugh a little at the comment, “He can be, but I’m sure whatever he’s done isn’t that bad. He’s a good guy, Max.” She stated, resting an arm on the sorter girl’s shoulder. “Do you want to go talk about it over a latte or something?” Victoria offered, interrogating Nathan about his texting habits could happen later, right now she was going to fix whatever mess he’d made with Max for him.

Max shrugged her shoulders in response, which Victoria took upon herself to take as a ‘yes’ and lead Max out of the boys’ dorms and towards the parking lot, her arm hugging her as if they had been friends for their entire lives.

It felt odd to Max having Victoria acting so chummy with her. For the short amount of time that Max had spent at Blackwell she had heard nothing but mean things about Victoria. That she was a bully, that she would tear down anyone and anything in her way to come out on top. And yet here she was, acting like she were Max’s best friend despite them only having had a couple of conversations together.

After a relatively long drive in Victoria’s car, Max found herself inside a cafe that she had never even seen before, “It’s new,” Victoria said when she noticed the confused look on Max’s face. “The Prescott’s have been working with a number of businesses to increase the tourism in town.” She explained as they made their way to the counter to order their drinks.

“If it’s to increase tourism, why is it on the edge of town,” Max asked. “Wouldn’t it make more sense for it to be closer to the center of town? You know, where all of the local businesses are.” She continued.

Victoria wasn’t here to talk about the towns economy or the logic behind Sean Prescott’s actions, she was here to clean up Nathan’s inevitable mess. But she was going to keep things civil, friendly even, with Max. If things end up going well between Nathan and Max, the two of them would most likely end up spending a lot of time together. So, instead of just ignoring Max’s question like she usually would have with anyone else, she said, “Well, yeah, but this is just the start. Now, what do you want to have to drink?” 

It was shocking to Max that Victoria wasn’t annoyed with her questioning, from what everything people had directly told her and what she had overheard from and about Victoria, she was expecting Victoria to either get mad or completely shut her down. But Victoria was being absolutely pleasant. “Oh, uh, just a cup of green tea.” She replied as the pair reached the front of the line.

After they had ordered and received their drinks, the two girls sat themselves down at a table by the front window of the cafe. They sat in silence for a few minutes. Max, enjoying the silence, a little bit of time for her to collect her thoughts. Victoria, trying to find the right words to use and questions to ask in order to get the answers she needed.

When Victoria was half-way through her latte she finally spoke up and asked, “Did you and Nathan have a fight?” Max was staring into her tea cup, not seeming to have heard Victoria. After a minute with no sign that Max was even remotely in the same world, Victoria waved in front of her face, “Max.” She sang out.

Shaking her head back into reality, Max looked up at Victoria, blinking a few times before saying, “What?”

Sighing, Victoria repeated her question with a smile on her face. Max was kind of cute, in an odd slightly quirky way. She could see why Nathan liked her, “Not really.” Max answered, looking back down to her tea cup.

With her perfectly styled eyebrows raised Victoria stared at Max hoping to force eye contact, “You called him an ass.” She pointed out, and found herself silently praying that Max would actually give her some details with her next answer.

“He is an ass.” Max curtly responded, crushing Victorias dreams for details with her words.

Despite her disappointment in the answer Max had provided, Victoria still found herself smiling at the brunette. Of course, this was meant to be a serious conversation where she found out what Nathan had done to fuck up, but it felt so much more casual, relaxed, as if she didn’t have to pretend to be the perfect, popular, stylish, and in short ‘bitch’ she felt she needed to be around the other students at Blackwell. Victoria could definitely see why Nathan liked Max, “What’d he do?” She asked.

Running her thumb up and down the cup, Max continued to stare at the cooling liquid as she said in a quiet voice, “It’s kinda stupid.” She would never say it out loud, it’d make her seem like even more of an insecure loser that she was sure everyone already saw her as, but she was finding herself to be a little nervous around Victoria. Nathan too.

“If it’s bothering you it’s not stupid.” Resting her hand over Max’s, she continued in a soothing voice, “Come on, tell me.”

Pulling her hand out from underneath Victoria’s, Max became defensive, “Why do you care?” Also, why was Victoria being so nice to her? It was making no sense to Max and making her second guess everything.

Moving her hand back towards her body, Victoria stated, “I want us to be friends.” It was a simple and true answer. All Victoria could do was hope that Max could her the sincerity in her voice.

“Why?” Max questioned, leaning back in her seat as she spoke.

Victoria never liked explaining herself to people, but today she’s been finding herself making a lot of exceptions for Max, “You seem nice, Nathan obviously likes you, plus we have a common interest.”

The last words of the sentence completely threw Max off. Was Nathan their common interest? Were Victoria and Nathan an item? There were plenty of rumors going around school suggesting exactly that, “A common interest?” Max asked. Hoping that the king and queen of the school weren’t a couple. Although she was aware that they were in a casual relationship and therefore Nathan was allowed to be seeing other people, she didn’t want him to.

An involuntary laugh left Victoria’s lips as she watched the cogs turn in Max’s mind. She could only imagine what conclusions Max was coming to. Victoria decided to put her out of her misery, “Photography, duh.” She responded, rolling her eyes at Max.

Blushing slightly at the obvious answer Max sheepishly said, “Oh, right.”

Another few minutes of silence ensued after Max’s embarrassment. Victoria wasn’t entirely sure how to get the conversation back on topic, but eventually decided to just force the conversation topic to come back up, “What did Nathan do?” She asked.

Judging from the intense stare Victoria was giving her, Max realised that Victoria wasn’t going to be leaving today without an answer, “He started smoking stuff even though I asked him not to.” Saying it out loud Max even more embarrassed than she already was.

Victoria asked, “Stuff?” There was a lot of ‘stuff’ Nathan could have been smoking. He has a lot of ‘stuff’ in his room.

“Drugs.” Max stated, her cheeks continuing to redden. Admitting the fact that she didn’t want people to do drugs made her feel like a bigger and bigger loser. The answer was vague, but Victoria supposed it gave her all the information that she needed.

“Is that all?” Victoria questioned.

Someone basically mocking Max’s uncomfortableness with something was not going to be tolerated by Max. No matter who they were, and no matter how much she wanted to stay on their good side, “Hey, it makes me uncomfortable.” She angrily stated.

“Oh, okay.” Victoria backed off, lifting her hands in front of her defensively, “Did he give you a reason or was he doing it for the hell of it?” She asked.

Max was still angry in her reply, but only a little, “He said that he needed it. That’s it.”

“I see.” Victoria drifted off in thought for a moment before continuing, “Okay, it’s Nathan’s personal problems, so I’m not going to go into any details, but he’s been going through a really rough time at home and at school.” She waited for a reaction from Max, but when the brunette did nothing but stare at her, she said, “It’s no excuse, but just cut him a little bit of slack, ‘kay, Max? And if he does anything stupid, just come to me. I’ll sort him out for you.” She offered.

After a minute of processing everything Victoria had said, Max asked, “Personal problems?”

As much as Victoria wished she could explain everything to Max, she couldn’t, and she told Max exactly that, “It’s not my place to share. He’ll tell you when he’s ready.”

Max wanted to pry. She really wanted to pry, but when it came to Nathan, she had a feeling their was a lot of very serious things going on in his life. So instead of asking more questions like she would have done in almost any other situation she merely said, “Okay. Thanks.”

“No problem.” Victoria responded before taking a sip of her now almost cold latte.

The atmosphere began to feel a little awkward and neither of them really had anything left to say, so the two of them spent another few minutes in the cafe finishing their drinks before Victoria drove them both back to the school campus.


	11. What Does She Mean To You?

Nathan’s room had rapidly filled with smoke thanks to the addition of a few Vortex club members. He was still in the same position he was in on his black leather couch when Max had left him, lying on his back with his legs hanging over the edge of the couch. Hayden was sitting on the floor and facing the bedroom door with his back against Nathan’s bed, while Zach was lying down on Nathan’s bed.

The three of them had been in those same positions for who knows how long, and despite how much Hayden and Zach were talking, Nathan had his eyes closed, and was doing his best to block out the sounds of the other two. Nathan was taking this as a moment to be alone with his own thoughts. 

First, Mr. Jeffershit had Rachel, but because of a few stupid mistakes she’s gone. Over the past few months he’s barely even spoken to Nathan because of Rachel’s... disappearance. Nathan didn’t know whether to be upset or angry with the teacher. Lately though, he’s been mostly angry, especially with the realisation that Max was his next target. Why she was? Nathan couldn’t quite figure that out, but he was going to. He wasn’t going to let Max suffer a similar fate as Rachel, he couldn’t.

“Hey, look who’s come to join the party.” Hayden said, snapping Nathan out of his thoughts. He couldn’t see the door from his position on the couch, but he’d bet everything he had that he knew exactly who was standing there.

Their response to Hayden confirmed his thoughts, “Not now, Hayden.” Victoria. Walking across the room, she opened the window above Nathan’s desk and spun back around to face the three boys, “Get out you two.” She said shooing them away with her hand.

Neither Hayden nor Zach made any move to leave their positions, but instead began laughing. Between his laughs Hayden said, “Who’s gonna make us? You? Come on, Vicky, just sit down and join us.”

Crossing her arms over her chest, Victoria spat out at Hayden, “Get the fuck out. Now.” Turning her attention to Zach she continued, “Or I might just have to tell a certain school journalist what you’ve been doing in your spare time.”

Zach stared at Victoria for a moment, processing what she had just said. After a minute of silence, Zachary responded, “You wouldn’t do tha-”

Victoria cut him off by saying, “You know that I would.” The glare that she was giving him could have frozen hell. Nathan had always found himself impressed with how Victoria had perfected that look. It was a look that taunted, challenged and warned the receiver of it.

For the second time in only a matter of minutes, Victoria shooed the two boys out of the room. Zach scurried off of the bed, and dragged Hayden onto his feet. As he exited the room, Hayden slammed the door shut behind him, mumbling an empty threat.

Victoria stayed quiet, staring at Nathan as he lay motionless on the couch. When she was certain that the two boys were finally gone from the other side of the door she said, “I just had a lovely time with Max Caulfield.” That sentence caused Nathan to look up at her, intrigued with the thought of Victoria and Max hanging out. Of course, he had a pretty good idea of the reasoning behind it.

Despite being intrigued, he had no idea as to why this was Victoria’s opening sentence. Usually she’d ease into things. Give you a false sense of security before bringing up what she really wanted to talk about, “So?” It was the only thing that Nathan could think to say in the moment, and he mentally punched himself for it.

Victoria moved to sit on the bed before saying, “So, I want to know why you’re lying on your couch smoking shit while she’s pissed at you.” Her voice was harsh, criticising. He hated when she spoke to him like this.

Nathan quickly snapped at her,“Because smoking this shit is much easier than patching things up with someone I barely know.” The words shocked him, but it was true. He knew almost nothing about Max. Not once had that actually sat down and talk about themselves, gotten to know one another. Why was he caring about the safety of someone he didn’t even know? Surely he should’ve learnt by now that he should only care for himself. Doing anything more just gets you hurt.

She was quickly becoming more and more annoyed with Nathan, but she did her best to keep level headed and her voice even as she spoke, “You wouldn’t have to ‘patch things up’ with her if you didn’t start smoking in front of her.”

Nathan dropped a joint into the ashtray lying on the floor next to him, “Not my fault she’s so sensitive about this.” Nathan did force Max to leave, she did that on her own accord. She chose to leave. It wasn’t Nathan’s fault.

Raising her voice slightly, Victoria said, “No, but it’s your fault for not respecting it.”

Rolling over on the couch, Nathan faces away from Victoria, hoping that maybe if he can’t see her,  she’ll just leave. A minute passed before he responded, “Whatever.” God, he hated in when she was right.

This definitely wasn’t the first time Nathan had acted like this. Victoria remained on the edge of Nathan’s bed, just staring at his back. If she just stayed quiet for long enough, he’d turn around and face her, ready to talk about whatever was bothering him. Nathan may have a temper and his own personal problems, but who doesn’t?

When he finally turned back to her, she smiled to herself. Being able to know someone this well, Victoria saw it as a gift. Speaking softly Victoria asked again, “What does she mean to you?”

His response was less than a mumble, it was just a serious of noises that Victoria knew meant, “I don’t know.”

Getting off the bed, Victoria knelt in front of him on the floor and resting one of her hands on top of his, “Nate, I’ve had to listen to you gush about her for the past few days, and now you’re acting as if she doesn’t even matter to you.” She waited for him to start talking, she waited for about a minute. But instead of saying anything he just stared blankly, “Nathan, what does she mean to you?” She asked once more, hoping that this time she’d get a proper answer.

His voice was quiet, but understandable. He didn’t want to risk anyone else in the building hearing his words, “I don’t want her to get hurt.”

Victoria shuffled closer to him, if they’d been in a better position she would have hugged him, “Nate, you aren’t going to hurt her.” She said in her most honest tone. A tone that was rarely heard by anyone but Nathan.

Shaking his said, Nathan said, “Not me, Tori.” As soon as he said it, he mentally kicked himself. Now she’d be asking questions, wanting to know who he was afraid would hurt Max. Why would he say that? Why didn’t he think things through before he spoke?

Victoria stared confused at Nathan as she asked, “Then who?” It took all of Nathan’s willpower to not just yell out ‘Mr. Jefferson’, to not tell Victoria everything. He’d been struggling ever since he started working with the guy. He’d always told Victoria everything.

Shaking her hands off of his, he responded curtly, “Doesn’t matter.” Closing his eyes he prayed she’d just drop it and move on.

Reaching out to him, but stopping herself before she actually touched him, Victoria said, “Nate.” Of course she wouldn’t move on, she’s Victoria Chase for crying out loud.

“Please don’t. Not today.” He can’t tell her. Not yet, anyway. But he will, he swears he will. He’ll tell her everything soon.


	12. Talking With The Devil

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I am so very sorry for my absence, life just seemed to get ahead of me. But now I’m back and I hope to be updating relatively regularly again. Oh gosh, this update is so short. I'm so sorry.

Mindless walking, giving half-hearted waves to those who speak to him, Nathan made his way down the school hallway, going through the motions to appear to be maintaining a normal teenage life. He was getting tired of living the charade he’d been maintaining for the passed year or so. With each passing day he was finding himself fall further and further into an inescapable hole, he couldn’t wait for it to end. And if Jefferson’s silence was anything to go by, he would be done with him soon enough.

As he walked passed the dreaded art room, Nathan felt his stomach turn in knots. The images of Rachel flashing in his mind. What he could remember of the night repeating on a loop.

Emerging from the door, the favourite teacher of the school’s female body entered his line of sight. The signature smile that drew everyone in, fooling them into thinking that he was a good person, playing on his lips, “Mr. Prescott, may I have a word with you?”

Shock was the only word to explain what Nathan felt in that moment. Mr. Jeffershit hadn’t said a single word to him since the Rachel incident. He had completely locked Nathan out of everything going on. But maybe Nathan had been forgiven. Maybe Fuckerson had come to realise that it wasn’t Nathan’s fault, and that Nathan hadn’t even known what he was doing when it happened.

Without saying a word, Nathan followed the photography teacher into the art room and walking over to his usual desk at the back of the room. He didn’t even notice the small girl sitting at a desk by the window’s until Mr. Jefferson spoke up, “Miss. Marsh, would you please give me and Mr. Prescott some time alone? You’ve done enough work today, go take a well-deserved break.”

Piling up the various documents, books, and folders scattered on the desk in front of her, Kate said, “Sure, Mr. Jefferson, if there’s anything else I can do please let me know.” Clutching the pile to her chest she smiled brightly.

“Of course.” He responded as he watched her leave the room before turning to Nathan and explaining, “She’s acting as my assistant. Lovely girl. Now, how about we get started.” Walking to his desk he grabbed Nathan’s folder which was full of all of the work Nathan had completed over the passed few years.

When he returned to Nathan’s side he pulled up a chair and placed the now opened folder between them. Flicking through the pages, he began talking, “I hear there’s going to be a Vortex party this coming weekend.” Nathan mumbled out a quick affirmation knowing that Mr. Jefferson wasn’t wanting an actual response, “Perhaps you should invite Kate to join you and the other member’s of the club, she’s been working so hard lately she needs to relax a little.”

So it was finally time for this to happen? Nathan had been waiting for a while to be told when Jefferson would be working with his next ‘model’. It had been so long that Nathan was almost holding out hope that this obsession was finally over. Of course he’d been told that Kate would be next, but that didn’t stop him from hoping that maybe he’d finally be free.

Staring down at the pictures he’d seen a thousand times, Nathan spoke, “If she wants to go, I’ve got no problem with that. I’ll ask her.”

Closing the folder, Jefferson decided that their conversation was over, “Good, good. Oh, and as for your photography, I’d like for you to hand in something new within the next week. Try a different style perhaps, expand your abilities.” And there was the sorry excuse for homework that Fuckerson gave him every time they had one of their chats.

Leaving the room, Nathan went back to his mindless routine, wishing he could just go back to his dorm and sleep the rest of the year away. When would he be free from this hell?


	13. Invitation

_Nathan: --need 2 tlk_

_Victoria: --what about?_

_Nathan: --nvr mnd that_

_\--come 2 my room_

_\--pls_

Oh God what was he doing? It had only been a few hours since his conversation in the classroom, he couldn’t tell her. If he did she would freak out, she’d call the cops, she’d try and murder Jefferson. Or Jefferson will get to her first. The dick always knew what was happening in this godforsaken school. Why has he done this?

No. It’s good. He needs to tell someone. Someone he can trust. Someone who will believe him. Support him. Let him just let it all out and not ask questions until he was done talking. That’s what he needs. It’ll keep him sane. Won’t it?

He sat on his bed, completely still as he waited for Victoria come knocking on his door. Lost in thought his mind raced through all of the possible outcomes of the conversation he was about to force himself to have. He figured out the wording of nearly everything he was going to say, having the conversation in his own mind. Watching it play out again and again in every way he could imagine.

With knock coming from his door, he jumped up to his feet and opened it as fast as he could. But the person in front of him was not the one he was expecting. Not at all. “What are you doing here?” His hand still gripped onto the door handle he stared down at the short blonde. Kate. Fucking. Marsh.

Lifting the camera bag from her shoulder, she explained in her sweet-as-honey voice that drove Nathan insane, “Mr. Jefferson asked me to bring this to you. He said that you left them in the classroom after your meeting.”

Just when he was about to blab about everything, Mr. Jeffershit makes his presence known again. Why is it that every time that Nathan even considers trying to escape that fuckers name came up in conversation?

Sighing out of frustration Nathan said, “Did he now?” Quickly growing tired of her presence, he continued, “Well come on, hand them over.” The moment the bag was off her shoulder, he snatched it out of her hands.

With her task done Kate turned to leave the boys’ dorms and head back to her own room. She didn’t expect Nathan to be polite to her, he never had been. But she always held out that little bit of hope that maybe one day he’d change his ways and be the good person she knew that he could be if only he let himself.

She had taken only a few steps when Nathan finally realised exactly why Kate had been sent to him. Fuckerson was worried that Nathan may not actually ask Kate to the party in a public setting, so Kate was made to go to him.

Calling out her name, he stopped Kate in her tracks. When she turned around he said, “There’s a party this weekend. Do you want to go? I can get you in the VIP room and everything.”

Kate stared at him quizzically for a minute before smiling. Sure parties weren’t really her thing, but if going to one is what it took for Nathan to begin his change from the school jerk to a genuinely nice person, she’d do it. “I’d like that. Thank you, Nathan.” She said before she walked happily back to her room.

Slamming his door shut and pulling his phone out of his pocket he started texting Victoria again.

_Nathan: --tori where r u?_

_Victoria: --got caught up with some taylor stuff_

_\--be there soon_

_\--promise_

_Nathan: --u better_

This time, the waiting for Victoria only lasted for a few minutes. Just as he was about to text her again, she came barging through his door a look of horror on her face, “Taylor really needs us, Nate. Okay?” She said as soon as the door was shut behind her.

“Huh?” Was all he managed to get out. What was she doing talking about Taylor? Of all the scenarios in his head, this was not one that he had even considered. Sure, he figured she may come into his room without knocking, that wasn’t anything knew. But Victoria rarely spoke about Taylor or Courtney when they weren’t around. Unless of course they did something to piss her off.

Sitting down on Nathan’s couch, Victoria got herself comfortable before she explained, “I won’t get into details, but Taylor’s mum is in hospital. It’s going to be a really rough time for her and we need to be there for her.”

That was unexpected. He was thinking it was going to be something stupid, like her crush got a girlfriend or her favourite makeup had been discontinued, but this, this was actually serious. “Not to sound like a dick or anything, but she’s more your friend than mine.” Nathan never was one for comforting.

Rolling her eyes, Victoria said, “Well, you failed at not sounding like a dick.” She moved to sit next to Nathan on his bed as she continued, “I’m not asking you to go to the hospital with her, or even hold her hand and tell her that it’ll all be okay. I’m just saying that she’s going through a tough time and I want you to be aware of that.” Looking Nathan in the eyes she kept the look on her face as serious as she could and didn’t look away until he responded. 

“Okay. I got it.” He turned his head away from her, beginning to feel slightly uncomfortable with the prolonged eye-contact.

The pair were silent for a little while until Victoria remembered why she’d come to Nathan’s room in the first place. “So, what did you want to talk to me about?” She asked.

“Oh, right.” Now that she was here, Nathan realised just how dangerous it would be to tell her. Victoria would do anything for her friends, and although it’s touching, in this instance it could be the end of her. Maybe he won’t tell her just yet, it’s not the right time. Of course, there probably won’t ever be a right time.

Resting one of her hands on top of his, Victoria said softly, “Nate, you’re not saying anything.” She moved her head, doing her best to make some form of eye-contact with him as he spaced out.

With a shake of his head, Nathan brought himself back and said the only other relatively important reason he could have possibly called Victoria over that he could think of, “Sorry. Um, Kate Marsh is on the VIP list for the next party.”

If he weren’t so hung up on the whole situation he was in deep shit over, the look on Victoria’s face would have been absolutely priceless.


	14. Late Night Company

Lying motionless on his bed in the dark of the bedroom, Nathan’s noise machine was playing the soothing sound of whales. He had been lying here like this since Victoria left his room all those hours ago, hoping that he’d get to sleep early. Of course that was never actually going to happen, but he’d figured it be worth a shot. And now it was passed midnight and he wasn’t any closer to sleeping than when his head first hit the pillow.

A series of quiet knocks came from the door. Praying that it was just his tired state of mind playing tricks on him, Nathan ignored it and squeezed his eyes shut in an effort to somehow will the knocking to cease.

The knocking continued on for another few minutes. Clearly whoever was on the other side was not going to go away until they got what they wanted. Unfortunately for Nathan what they wanted was his attention.

Getting off from his bed Nathan began mumbling to himself about how it had better be important and that the determined little ass behind the door better not be Hayden, or Zachary, or anyone Vortex club related. If it were, he was going to slam to door in their face without a second thought. The Vortex club was the last thing he wanted to think about right now.

Opening the door just enough to be able to look at the knocking culprit Nathan found himself staring at Max in what were probably the cutest pajama's he had ever seen, “What are you doing here?” The two hadn’t spoken since their little argument (if you could call it that) that took place what was now technically two days ago.

Max stared up at Nathan as she shuffled on her slipper-clad feet and admitting, “I couldn’t sleep.” Hope coating her voice, she continued, “I thought that we could maybe talk.”

She had half-expected him to shut the door and go back to bed, but instead he opened the door just enough for her to get through. Once she was through he closed the door and motioned for her to sit on the bed.

If it weren’t for the whale noises still playing, the room would be completely silent with the pair sitting next to each other on the bed, not saying a word, not even looking at one another. At first Nathan had been anxious about what Max wanted to talk about, that maybe she’d what to end what they had going on even though they’d barely even started. But the longer the silence between them lasted, the more frustrated he became. She was the one who came to him. Why wasn’t she talking? Almost angrily, he asked, “What did you want to talk about?”

Before she spoke, Max let out a yawn. A yawn that ended with her stretching her arms up above her and falling onto her back on Nathan’s bed. With a content smile on her face she said, “My mum says that you should never go to sleep when your having a fight with someone. And I’ve already gone to sleep once since we started fighting.” Her smile faded when she realised what she’d said. Her and Nathan were having a fight, that was why she was here and she shouldn’t be looking happy about that.

Nathan turned to look at Max as she sprawled out on his bed, “Are we fighting?” He asked her. Sure, they didn’t talk in any form after she stormed out of his room, but he wasn’t sure that it was actually a fight. More like a small argument that they’d both pretend didn’t happen and just move on from it.

Staring at the ceiling in the dark Max was getting lost in the noises that were emitting from the sound machine next to Nathan’s bed. She never would have guessed that he’d listen to whale noises. Maybe she needed to spend more time with him, actually get to know him a little more. That could definitely help her avoid getting into another sort-of-fight with him.

Realising that she hadn’t actually responded to him yet she said, “I don’t know. It feels like we are.” Not talking for over 24-hours after one person storms away should definitely count as a fight, right? Maybe just a little one, but a fight nonetheless.

Shrugging, Nathan suggested, “How about we decide to not fight then?” Reconciling with people never was one of Nathan’s strongest abilities.

Max propped herself up on her shoulders, getting a better look at Nathan through the darkness, “Just pretend it didn’t happen?” She asked him. That was an absolutely bizarre suggestion to her. It completely contradicted what her parents had taught her from a young age.

As if it were the most obvious answer in the world, Nathan responded, “Yeah.” Moving closer to Max, he put his knees on either side of her while resting one of his hands on the back of her neck. Maybe it was the tiredness or maybe it was the dark making Max look even more irresistible to him, but right now he wanted nothing more than to kiss her.

Doing her best to ignore Nathan’s advances Max stated, “We can’t just do that. We have to talk about this.” Blood rushed to her face as Nathan moved his head to her neck and kissed her gently once. She prayed that he wouldn’t notice.

Whispering into her ear, Nathan said, “How about just for now, just for tonight, we just pretend it didn’t happen.” When he finished talking he bit on her earlobe before pulling away and looking her in the eyes. Those beautiful doe-like eyes of hers.

The look on Nathan’s eyes were captivating her, holding her gaze. Maybe one more night of ignoring the fight would be okay, “Fine.” She finally said, “But we will talk about it later.” She stated. It wasn’t a question, it wasn’t up for discussion, Max would make sure that they did talk about it.

Never looking away from Max, Nathan replied, “Of course.” Cupping her face with his free hand, he slowly rubbed his thumb on her cheek as he said, “Now, I’m not letting you walk out of here tonight, it’s dangerous out there.” More dangerous than she’d ever know. More dangerous than he’d ever let her know.

The gentle touch of Nathan’s hand on her face made Max smile. Nathan may not be perfect, but he did know how to look at Max as if she were, “I can take care of myself, Nathan.” She said barely above a whisper.

Nathan planted a series of soft kisses on Max’s lips and cheek before saying, “Stay. It’s cold and dark out there.” Leaning forward to her ear again, he whispered, “Besides, my bed is really comfy.” And he planted another series of kisses on her neck.

Max bit her lip at the feeling of his lips on her skin and at the thought of staying in Nathan’s room overnight for the second time since they’d met at the start of the week. It would definitely be fun, and his bed actually was more comfortable than her own, but she wasn’t sure it was the best idea.

Sighing when Nathan stopped his actions, Max finally responded, “Only sleeping.”

It was something that he almost never did, but Nathan actually pouted at Max’s answer. Despite his disappointment that Max wanted no other activities other than sleeping to occur throughout the whole night, Nathan nodded and moved off of her.

In a couple of minutes the two were under the covers and Max had her arms wrapped around Nathan’s torso and her chest pressed up against his back. Just like they had been on that first night together. She placed a kiss on his shoulder before the two retired themselves to sleep for the night. Soothing whale noises carrying them off to their slumber.


	15. Morning Decisions

Loud beeping coming from Nathan’s phone jolted the pair awake. Max found herself sitting upright in Nathan’s bed before lazily falling back down to the pillows as Nathan drowsily reached for his phone. The harsh light of his phone’s screen causing him to squint as he saw that he had a series of texts from Victoria. Unlocking his phone he scrolled through them.

_Victoria: --rise and shine nate_

_\--time to take your meds and get your ass ready for class_

_\--hello???_

_\--dont even think about ignoring me_

_\--youve been slack enough with your wake up txts_

_\--you better not start ignoring my normal txts as well_

_\--fine_

_\--dont get your ass to class but dont forget the meds_

If there was one thing Victoria was, it was persistent. Eight texts in less than two minutes definitely proves that. Nathan switched his phone onto silent before shoving it back under his pillow, telling himself that he’d give her a response later when he was more awake.

Rolling over he faced Max who was now lying on her back with her eyes closed. He’d felt her move when his phone went off leaving him uncertain as to whether or not she was asleep right now. Either way, that didn’t really matter. She was here, in his bed, relaxed. Right now there was no fighting between them. No classes waiting for their attendance. And no teacher complicating all of his moves.

Propping himself up on his elbow he got a better look at Max’s face. With her brown hair in a mess and the early morning light shining on her face, she looked calmer than Nathan had ever seen anyone. Moving some hair away from her face he leaned over and kissed her briefly on the forehead before pulling back to look for some kind of reaction. When there was none, he determined that she was still fast asleep.

He gave her one more kiss before getting up from the bed. Victoria was right, he could afford to not go to class, but he could not afford to miss a single day of his medication. Although, he didn’t really need Victoria reminding him each and every day to take it, but her reminders had become one of the few constants in his life. So despite them occasionally being annoying, he didn’t want her to stop. Little constants were what made his life bearable.

The search for his medication never took long, he always kept them in one of three places. On his desk, by his bed, or in his drawers. Taking the necessary dosages of the ones he was allowed to have on an empty stomach, he washed them down with water from his water bottle before moving back onto the bed.

Resting on his knees, Nathan was facing Max as she slept. He reached out and shook her gently, attempting to wake her. “Max,” He whispered as he watched her eyes slowly flutter open, “Morning.”

She rubbed her eyes and quietly responded, “Good morning.” Sitting up she looked around the room that was slowly becoming more and more familiar to her. The sound of other students bustling around in the hallway outside was both familiar and new to her. These students seemed louder to her, both their voices and their steps were louder. “What day is it?” She asked as she looked down at the hand that was resting on her shoulder.

Leaning forward, Nathan kissed Max on the cheek before answering, “Friday.” A newly awoken Max was a complete mess. Her hair was going in every direction, her eyes were drowsy and there was also that weird eye gunk as well, not to mention her clothes were sitting in disarray on her frame.

The single word answer took a minute to process in Max’s mind but when it did, “Shit.” She threw the blankets off of her and jumped off the bed, “We have to get to class.” Looking around the room she appeared to be searching for her clothes, forgetting that she’d come to Nathan in her pajamas.

Smirking at the confused girl, Nathan responded, “What if we didn’t?” It was a Friday, all the classes today would simply be teachers saying what homework they had for the weekend. Who needs that?

Turning to Nathan, Max said, “What? I can’t not go to class, unlike you I have a scholarship to maintain.” Even Nathan couldn’t deny that that was a good point, but he still didn’t want Max to go to class. He wanted her to stay with him, he wanted them to be alone together.

With a shrug, Nathan said, “Fair enough, but tell me; how do you plan on going to class in your pajamas?” He looked at Max, challenging her to come up with an answer.

As if it were the most obvious thing in the world, Max said, “I’ll get changed in my dorm.” She stared at Nathan as if he had asked her the dumbest question she had ever heard. What else would she do? It’s not that hard of a question. Her dorm is where her clothes are so that’s where she’d go to get ready for class.

Nathan got up from his bed and headed towards Max as he said, “And walk all that way, in the light of day, in your pajamas?” He watched the cogs turn in her mind as she thought over what he was saying. Of course she couldn’t do that, not with all of the male students right outside of Nathan’s door and all of the other student’s right outside the building. Once Nathan was standing directly in front of Max, he put one arm around her waist, “You should just stay here, with me.” He whispered into her ear.

At Nathan’s touch, Max’s body relaxed. They may not have known each other for a very long time, but it felt natural for the two of them to be so close together. Quietly Max asked, “Why?” She closed her eyes and just focused on the feeling of Nathan being so close to her. Praying that he’d convince her to stay, it wouldn’t take much.

Pulling Max’s body closer to his Nathan responded, “Because it’ll be fun.”

“Fine, but just this once.” Sighing, Max was almost mad at how easily he could convince her of things. She had always thought herself to be strong-willed, hard-headed, but Nathan seemed to wash all of that away and Max didn’t know if that was a good or bad thing.

He laughed slightly and said, “Good enough for me.” Nathan kissed her on the cheek twice and pulled away from her slightly, looking her in the eyes, “Once everyone is in class lets go get some breakfast.” He was personally only going to eat enough to be able to take the rest of his medication, but surely Max would be hungry by now.

Max smiled at the idea of them going somewhere together, “Okay, where?” She asked. It had been a long time since she’d been to anywhere around Arcadia Bay and she was definitely excited to see if there was anything that had changed.

Thinking for a minute, Nathan went over the options. In a town as small as their’s there wasn’t many options, let alone good options, “There’s this little diner not too far away called ‘Two Wales’ it’s super touristy but the food isn’t too bad.” Max’s smile fell.

Shaking her head from side-to-side she said, “No, we can’t go there.” Her tone told Nathan that this wasn’t up for discussion, that there was no way he could convince her to go to that particular diner with him.

After everything that Nathan had been through in his life he’d learnt that curiosity always got you in trouble, but he couldn’t help himself but ask, “Why not?” Maybe it was something that he’d be able to help her with. Maybe she went there before and got sick or found a hair in her food or something. He could definitely help with that.

“I just...We just can’t.” She wasn’t ready to tell him all about what she had done to the person whom she had considered to be her best friend. It hadn’t even been a week since she’d met Nathan, now was not the time to disclose everything about her past. 


	16. As We Go To Breakfast

Classes for the day had started and Max had been handed a variety of clothes to wear from Nathan’s closet. He had instructed her to put on those clothes as they should fit alright while he went to the ‘gross’ communal bathroom to fix his bed-hair.

Inspecting each item of clothing before she put them on, Max realised she’d actually end up looking rather similar to Nathan’s signature style. A pair of black jeans, a plain white shirt and a blue jacket. The pants were a little too long for her short legs, the shirt was a little bit see-through, and the jacket’s sleeves ended passed her hands, but it was better than her pyjamas she supposed. It was enough for her to be able to get back to her dorm with her dignity.

Just as Max was pulling on the jacket, someone knocked on the door. Panic filled Max’s entire being, her mind instantly coming to conclusions that she’d been found by one of her teacher’s or worse, the principal and that if she opened the door she would lose her scholarship and have to go back to her parents.

Frozen in fear Max stood in the middle of the bedroom, staring at the door. “You dressed yet?” It was just Nathan. Instantly relaxing and letting out a sigh of relief, Max went to open the door for him. He looked her up and down, examining her in his clothes. She looked ridiculous in his clothes, cute, but ridiculous. It wasn’t even the clothes themselves that made her look ridiculous, she just looked uncomfortable as she fidgeted with the sleeves of the jacket. There was no way that Nathan was going to take her anywhere when she was so clearly troubled by wearing his clothes, “Alright, get your ass to your room and throw on some other clothes. I’ll meet you in the parking lot.”

\---

Nathan had been waiting, resting up against the side of his car, for what felt like forever. Surely it didn’t take that long to get dressed. As he was just about to pull out his phone to both check the time and text her to see where she was, Max came running towards him.

Stopping in front of him she was breathing deeply, her face slightly flushed from the running. Placing a hand on his shoulder she leaned forward and gave him a quick kiss on the lips before walking around to the passenger side of the car, leaving Nathan shocked by her actions. 

As she got into the car she explained, “Sorry I took so long, I couldn’t find my camera.” The slight pink-tinge to her face deepened as she admitted that.

Starting the car, Nathan responded, “Impressive, a photography student who lost their camera.” Considering how seriously all the art students at Blackwell took themselves, he honestly couldn’t believe that a single one of them would lose their camera.

Laughing at herself and the situation, Max said, “I know; what would Mr. Jefferson say?” At the name of the teacher, Nathan’s grip on the steering wheel tightened, his knuckles beginning to turn white.

Doing his best to focus on the road in front of him, he mumbled to himself, “Who cares?” Max shouldn’t be thinking about Jefferson, not while she was with Nathan. Not while Jefferson was doing what he was doing.

Max hadn’t quite caught what Nathan had said, she’d been too busy searching through her bag to properly pay attention. Mentally kicking herself for not hearing him, she asked, “What?”

With a shake of his head, Nathan said, “Nothing.” Quickly glancing over at her, he realised that there was still a familiar blue piece of clothing draped over her small frame, “You’re still wearing my jacket.”

Glancing down at her arms for a moment she pulled the sleeves up a little so that her hands could be seen. The jacket really was too big for her, “Yeah, it’s really comfortable. I can understand why you wear your red one a lot.” She nodded her head towards Nathan, causing him to glance at his own arms for a moment.

When he looked back at Max, Nathan realised how big the jacket was on her, and just how cute that made her whole outfit look, “You can keep it if you want. I don’t really wear that one too often.” He said as he focused back on the road.

With shock coating her voice, Max said, “Seriously? Thanks, dude.” Adjusting her bag on her lap, she went back to searching through it. Hoping to find that one photo she had taken what felt like forever ago.

“Don’t call me dude.” Nathan reminded her as he turned onto the main street of Arcadia Bay.

Laughing slightly while she was still scavenging through her old bag, Max jokingly asked, “Or what?”

Without missing a beat, Nathan said, “I’ll start calling you Maxine.” In the same joking tone that Max had spoken to him in. With each little sentence the two exchanged, he felt his grip on the steering wheel loosen as he relaxed. It was shocking to him how much of a calming effect Max had on him, but despite the shock it was more than welcome.

Looking away from her bag and towards Nathan, she stared for a moment as she comprehended what he had said to her, “You wouldn’t dare.” She finally responded. If Nathan hadn’t been focusing on the road he would have been able to see the challenging look in her eyes as she stared at him.

Side-eyeing her he stated, “Try me.” With that oh-so-common smirk playing on his lips.

For a little while, the pair sat in silence as Nathan focused on the road ahead of him and Max continued to search through her bag. After a few minutes Max came to the conclusion that she wasn’t going to be able to find the photo she was looking for and resigned herself to looking out of the window, staring at the small town of Arcadia Bay go passed her.

Lost in the moment, she began tapping her fingers on the window. When Nathan took a turn down a street that she hadn’t been down since long before she had left the town, she spoke up and asked, “Where exactly are you taking me?”

Doing his best to keep his voice as happy as possible despite his slight annoyance he said, “Well, seeing as you refuse to go to the only good diner I’ve been to we’re going to be going to the slightly crappier one.”

“Which is?” She asked, hoping to get a proper answer from him this time, and answer that gave her the actual name of the place that they would be eating.

Sighing, he frustratingly said, “I don’t know, I think ‘bacon’ is in the name.” Nathan wanted to be able to remember the name of the place, but no matter how much he tried, he couldn’t get the name of the diner off of the tip of his tongue.

Searching through her mind, Max went through all of the possibilities until she finally found the name that she was more than certain was correct. “You mean ‘Bacon Brothers’?” She asked him. Joyce had mentioned the place a few times to Max, she’d always said that they were probably Two Wales Diner’s main competition in the area.

Taking one hand of the steering wheel, Nathan clicked his fingers before saying, “Yeah that’s it. You ever been there?” Glancing over at Max, he watched her briefly as she was still staring out the window.

Shaking her head slightly, she quietly responded, “No, I only ever ate at ‘Two Whales’ when I ate out.” The more she spoke about the diner that was like a third home to her growing up was causing Max to remember more and more memories that she was finding to be more and more upsetting to her. She had thought that she had moved passed the guilt that her actions all those years ago had left her with, but being back in Arcadia Bay had brought back all of those feelings.

She only ate at Two Whales but is refusing to eat at Two Wales? Nathan was nearing furious at the thought. Frustratingly (and rather loudly) he asked her, “Then why the hell don’t you want to eat there now?”

Max’s answer was simple, “Because of some personal stuff.” It was simple to the point of annoyance to Nathan, but personal stuff was something that he understood probably too well.

Slowly the car as he searched for a space for him to park his car, he asked, “Personal stuff that you don’t want to talk about?”

“You got that right.” Max responded, finding herself sad at her own thoughts and at the ending of the car ride that she was beginning to find slightly relaxing.

Maybe one day the two of them would find enough trust between them to be able to share their personal problems with each other. Nathan truly hoped so.


	17. Small Diner, Big Conversation

The waitress had given each of the two teenagers a full cup of coffee and taken their order. Now the pair were sitting a booth in the back of the diner. In silence. Nathan was watching Max as she was drinking her coffee and looking out the window. Both were enjoying this small piece of silence away from other students. But there was one thing that was sitting on both of their minds.

“Are we going to talk about our fight now?” Max asked, still staring out into the distance, resting her chin on one hand.

He’d been expecting the question, but that didn’t stop him from being taken aback when she asked it. “Sure.” He replied after a moment. There was no way he could actually say ‘no’ after having promised the night before that he would talk to her about it. “Do you want to start?” He asked. At least if she started he’d have a better chance of knowing what to say.

Finally looking away from the window and towards Nathan, Max asked, “Why did you do it?” Clearly there was going to be no easing into this conversation to Nathan’s displeasure.

“Do what?” He did know what she was talking about, but he needed to think things out a little more. He needed more time before he answered her. Nathan didn’t want to screw this up for himself or for Max. So, he feigned ignorance.

Sighing, Max responded, “Light the joint after I specifically told you that I would leave if you did.” Her voice was steady and quiet. There was surprisingly very little emotion in her voice as she spoke. Perhaps she was still tired, or maybe she was still half-zoned-out.

Nathan shrugged and said, “I don’t know.” Max raised an eyebrow at him, telling him that his answer wasn’t good enough,  “I just needed it, okay?” He added.

Emotion, anger specifically, came flooding into her voice as she said, “No not okay.” Just at that moment the waitress returned with their food and Max interrupted herself by saying, “Thank you.”  to the waitress. After the woman left she continued, “I want a proper answer. Why did you ‘need’ it?”

A proper answer? Nathan wasn’t entirely sure what counted as a ‘proper’ answer. So he settled for telling her something that was true but also still vague and nowhere near enough information for her to come to the correct conclusion, “I had a lot on my mind.”

Max began eating her food (a plate of bacon and eggs with a hollandaise sauce to almost put Joyce’s to shame) while Nathan simply stared at his pancakes. He knew that he needed to eat in order to take his medication. There’s no way around that fact. But he didn’t have an appetite at the moment.

In between bites of the food that Max was feeling guilty for thinking was absolutely delicious, she asked, “What was on your mind?” Perhaps if she continued to ask simple questions, Nathan would eventually give her more information.

Taking a sip from his coffee, Nathan grimaced. It was way too bitter for him, and he shouldn’t even be drinking the stuff. Putting the mug down and pushing it away from him, he responded, “Nothing important.”

Max was incredibly confused with his response and asked, “It wasn’t important?” If it wasn’t important then why did he feel the need to do it?

Picking off a piece of pancake, he popped it into his mouth and said, “Yep.” He was hoping that if he just acted like it wasn’t a big deal that Max would believe it wasn’t a big deal.

Max put her knife and fork down and leaned forward as she said, “Bullshit, Nathan.” Of course she wouldn’t just let it go. Nathan should have guessed as much.

Blinking a few times at her, he said, “What?” This was the first time he’d seen her have a look that was so serious, so angry, and pointed in her direction. He didn’t like it.

Slowly she repeated, “Bull. Shit.” Leaning back slightly she continued, “Tell me. Maybe I can help.” Max did like to consider herself a helpful person after all. Even if she was maybe a little bit nosey at times. That just helped her get to the bottom of things and make her an even bigger help.

There was no way in hell Nathan was going to actually tell her what was going on with him. No way. No how. “You can’t help, and I can’t tell you.” He stated, crossing his arms over his chest and sitting back in the booth.

Mimicking his posture, Max asked, “Why not?”

The frustration was building in Nathan and he could feel himself heading towards bursting. “Because I can’t. I want to, but telling you isn’t something I can do.” He said through gritted teeth. He did not want to accidentally say something that he’d regret so Nathan was doing his best to think out every single word that he was saying.

Max wanted to yell at him, to tell him to just spit it out and let her help him, but instead she said as calmly as she could, “Give me a straight answer, Nathan.”

After thinking for a moment, he said, “If I tell you then you will get hurt. No doubt about it.” He shook his head as he spoke, imagining every possible thing that could happen to Max if she were to know what he’d gotten himself involved in.

Max’s eyes softened when she heard what Nathan said. “Hurt?” She asked. Did he mean that he would hurt her? And did he mean emotionally or physically? Max had a hundred questions running through her mind, but ‘hurt’ was the only word that could find it’s way out of her mouth.

Nodding slowly, Nathan said, “Badly. Now please, stop asking.” Taking another bite of his food he closed his eyes, praying that she’d finally just let it go.

Still shocked and confused, Max said, “Uh, okay.” She Paused as she watched Nathan who was just staring sadly at his plate, before continuing, “I am worried though.”

Silently, Nathan responded, “You can be worried. Just don’t go looking for answers.”

He was clearly troubled by all of this, and Max was fairly certain that he was just looking out for with what he was saying so she agreed, “Alright.”

Looking her in the eyes, Nathan asked, “You promise?”

“I promise.” She confirmed.

Nathan visibly relaxed as she said that. His shoulders appeared less tense and a relieved smile found it’s way onto his lips. For the next thirty minutes the pair ate their breakfast, with Max drinking both mugs of coffee seeing as Nathan had no interest in his. Nathan managed to eat enough to be able to take his medication when he got back to his dorm.

They didn’t talk much while in the diner, they simply smiled at each other whenever they made eye contact. Nathan was getting to know Max enough to know that she wasn’t just going to let all of this go, but she’d promised to not go searching, hopefully all she would do was ask him the occasional question.

And unfortunately that’s all that Nathan could do. Hope.


	18. Shopping Trip

It was Friday afternoon, and classes were officially over. Not that that meant anything to Max and Nathan. After breakfast, the two had gone back to Nathan’s room and hadn’t left it since. They’d spent the whole day talking about photography and what they wanted to achieve in life. It was a lot deeper than the conversations that Nathan usually had with people, but he’d be lying if he said that he wasn’t enjoying himself.

As the sounds of teenage boys filled the space outside of his room, Nathan and Max were sitting on his couch. Well, Nathan was sitting on the couch while Max sat on his lap, running her fingers through his hair as she stared into his eyes, trying to work out what he was thinking about.

Nathan smiled softly as he stared back at Max, into those doe-like eyes of hers, and he couldn’t help but think that she was perfect. Leaning forward he kissed her lips slowly and she immediately responded by kissing him back. For a few minutes, they stayed like that, just enjoying the moment until they needed to break for air.

When he finally pulled away from the kiss, he rested his forehead on Max’s and spoke, “Come with me to a party tomorrow.” His voice was silent, calm, content.

Leaning back to properly look into his eyes, Max asked, “What?” She’d heard about the party, but she’d had no intention of actually going. She was going to spend her weekend studying and doing homework. Probably also lose herself on the internet for an hour…Or more.

“There’s a party tomorrow and I want you to come with me.” He explained, speaking slowly.

“I can’t, I’m super behind in science so I really need to study and I have a little bit of homework I have to do.” She rambled on, coming up with excuse after excuse. It’s not that she didn’t want to go to the party, she was just, well, intimidated by the thought of hanging out with the Vortex Club.

Although it was clear that the rumours surrounding Nathan and Victoria’s cold nature weren’t necessarily true, that didn’t stop Max from thinking that at least some of the rumours about the Vortex Club were. She’d been told that they were all doped-up, stuck-up, party-people who only cared about their own. Max wanted nothing to do with that sort of group. She was more of an all-loving kind of person who’d never had even a taste of alcohol.

Attempting to convince Max to go with him, Nathan said, “You’ll have all Saturday morning and Sunday to study.” And he was right. The party would only take up a few hours on Saturday and then she’d have the rest of the weekend to focus on school and maintain her scholarship.

But there was one other reason why she was saying ‘no’ to going to the party. “I-uh. I don’t really have any ‘party’ clothes.” Max admitted, closing her eyes as she spoke. She didn’t really plan on partying too much seeing as she did have her grades to maintain if she wanted to keep her scholarship, so she didn’t pack any clothes that were ‘Vortex Club party worthy’.

Nathan suppressed a laugh before responding, “That can easily be fixed.” If clothes was all she was worried about, then Nathan was going to completely remove that problem for her.

“How?” Max asked.

He picked Max up and quickly put her back down onto the couch next to him. Standing up he reached out his arm to her. Max stared at the hand for a moment, trying to work out what exactly he was doing.

“Come on.” Nathan said, shaking his hand slightly indicating for her to take it.

Max stared quizzically at Nathan before she reached out her hand and placed in his. Soon, he was lifting her to her feet and walking her out of the bedroom and into the corridor.

\---

Max stared at the view in front of her. After a long drive to a city outside of Arcadia Bay, Max found herself standing in a clothes store that looked as if it was full of clothes that were far out of her price range.

Nathan had walked into the centre of the store, with Max in tow and had started looking at all of the choices in front of them. Occasionally holding an item in front of Max and either putting it back or putting in Max’s arms for her to try on.

Just as he was about to send Max on her way to the change rooms, his phone buzzed in his pocket. Taking it out of his pants and glancing at the screen he saw Victoria’s name and kicked himself remembering that he had never actually replied to her texts from that morning. If he ignored her any longer she would definitely kill him.

_Victoria: —nate where the hell have you been??_

_—dont you dare ignore me_

_Nathan: —sory i frgot 2 respnd_

_—im shppng wth max_

_Victoria: —the usual place??_

_Nathan: —yep_

_—u going 2 join us?_

_Victoria: —you bet i am_

_—can’t let you end up turning max into a fashion disaster_

After he put his phone away, the pair made a slow walk towards the change rooms, both of them looking at all of the clothes along the way.

Looking at a short black dress and running her fingers over the smooth fabric, Max asked, “Why do you want me to go to the party with you?”

“You being there will make it bearable.” Max looked over her shoulder at Nathan, a confused look resting on her face. If he didn’t like the parties, then why did he want to be a member of the elitist club in the first place? “Besides, you’re cute, I want everyone to know that.” He added when he noticed Max looking at him.

She smiled as she heard the word ‘cute’ and blushed slightly. “You want everyone to know that I’m cute?” Max asked him.

There was a playfulness in Nathan’s voice as he said, “I want them to know that you’re cute and that they can’t have you.” Taking a deep blue dress off of one of the racks, he added, “Try this one on too.”

Taking the dress from him, she asked, “And why can’t they have me?” Although she had a pretty good idea as to what the answer would be Max wanted to hear the words come from him.

He didn’t drop the playfulness with his response, “Because I have you.” But despite the playfulness in his tone, it was clear to Max that he was very serious.

Adjusting the growing pile in her arms Max asked, “Do you now?” As she raised an eyebrow at Nathan, a smirk playing on her lips.

Noticing Max’s struggle with the ever growing number of clothes she was having to carry, he took a few off the top of the pile as he said, “Yep, and you have me.” It was true. Max well and truly had him. This whole relationship may have started with the idea of keeping things casual, but there was no doubt in Nathan’s mind that he had fallen hard and fast for Max Caulfield.

Sighing as a small weight was lifted from her arms thanks to Nathan, Max responded, “I’m honoured.” Nathan liked whenever Max got like this. She was being sarcastic and he found it remarkably endearing. Plus, it was fun to play along with her.

Responding to Max’s comment with the same tone as her, he said, “You should be, I’m quite the catch.”

The pair had made to the store’s change rooms just as Max responded, “Uh-huh, sure.”

Giving Max a quick peck on the lips he handed her the clothes that he was holding for her and closed the door behind her, leaving Max to get changed in private.

As he sat, waiting for Max to put the first outfit on, the one and only Victoria Chase came walking up behind him. “So,” She said, “Where is Max?”

Turning towards her, Nathan pointed to the room that Max was currently occupying, “In there.” Victoria nodded, pulled her phone out of her pocket and began texting away on her phone, “Who’re talking to that could possibly be more interesting than me?” Nathan jokingly asked.

“Ugh, Courtney is refusing to add Kate Marsh to the VIP list.” She said as she fired off another text, “Thanks for leaving me to explain that one, by the way.” Victoria added as her phone buzzed again.

Nathan playfully nudged Victoria as he said, “No problem, Tori.” Taking a quick glance at Victoria’s phone, Nathan saw that Courtney was furious at the thought of Kate Marsh being on the list to one of the Vortex Club’s parties. Not that he could really blame her, it’s not like Kate was exactly their typical type of guest.

Still looking down at her phone, “You never did explain why you invited her.” Victoria stated.

He shrugged as he said, “I just thought it’d be entertaining, that’s all.” Looking up at the roof, Nathan closed his eyes as he did his best to block out any and all thoughts about the upcoming party and the plan that Jefferson had in store for both Nathan and Kate.

After a glance in his direction, “I’ll just pretend I believe you.” Victoria absent-mindedly spoke as she continued to type away on her phone. Although she didn’t believe that excuse, at least not fully believe it, she was in no mood to push it. She was busy enough with Courtney yelling at her via text message, she didn’t also need to have an around-about conversation with Nathan that would most likely end in her knowing nothing more than what she started with.

Eyes still closed, Nathan whispered, “Good.” The two sat in silence for a minute, the only sound between them being Victoria’s nails tapping against her phone.

Finally opening his eyes, Nathan stood up and walked towards Max’s change room. Standing in front of the door he asked, “Hey, Max? Are you okay in there?”

Max’s voice sounded distant and slightly muffled through the wooden door as she spoke, “Uh…I don’t know.”

Leaning closer to the door in order to hear her better, Nathan asked her, “What do you mean?” Turning to Victoria he looked at her for clarification, but all he got from her was a simple shrug before she went back to her phone.

Her voice was only just able to be heard as she clarified, “I mean I don’t know about this outfit.”

Nathan couldn’t imagine that Max looked bad in any of the clothes he had given her, so he insisted, “I’m sure you look great. Let me see it.”

A sigh could be heard from the other side of the door. Nathan took a step back away from the door as he heard her unlocking it.

Both Victoria and Nathan were staring at Max in awe as she stepped out of the change rooms. Shuffling her weight from side to side, Max felt a blush creeping on her cheeks. In a blue dress that wasn’t tight, but still hugged her body and fell above the knees, she was feeling incredibly exposed compared to her jeans and t-shirt that she usually wore.

“You look…” Victoria began.

“Amazing.” Nathan finished for her.

Large smiles appeared on all of their faces for different reasons. Nathan, for the fact that he was dating one of the cutest girls he’d ever seen and he couldn’t wait to show her off to his friends. Max, because two of the most popular people in school thought that she looked good enough to be ‘worthy’ of hanging out with them, even if she did think that she was above all of that stuff. And Victoria, because she was going to have so much fun giving Max a makeover before the party whether Max wanted it or not.


	19. The Party

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I apologise in advance for the potential shit-ness of this chapter. It is very late and my mind is dead.

Nathan Prescott. Victoria Chase. Maxine Caulfield. The trio were walking towards the party (that was taking place in the school’s parking lot) with the confidence of royalty. Max’s confidence was mostly faked with the good posture that was being forced onto her by her high heels and a genuine smile thanks to her hand being held tightly by Nathan. But despite the not-quite-sincere confidence, she was still making a rather grand entrance. Everyone was staring at her and the other two as the entered the party. Max figured it was mostly from shock at her attendance, but she decided to believe it was because of how she looked in her brand new outfit, and perfectly styled (thanks to Victoria) hair.

As soon as they joined the main crowd, drinks were handed to all three of them. Nathan had let go of Max’s hand and had instead wound it around her waist, holding her close to him as he drank his newly acquired drink. Victoria wandered off to go and find Taylor and Courtney, leaving Max and Nathan alone. Well, as alone as they could be in a crowd of their peers.

Not wanting to get herself drunk, or even tipsy for that matter, Max simply held onto her drink, keeping it close to her chest as her and Nathan wandered through the crowd. Occasionally they would stop to talk to one of Nathan’s friends, during which Nathan would sound relatively disinterested and his grip on Max’s waist would tighten as he made small talk.

Whenever they walked away from someone Nathan would explain exactly who that person was, what classes they were taking and whether or not they were in the Vortex Club. Max did know most of the people here seeing as a lot of them were photography students, but there was the occasional face she couldn’t put a name to.

After they were done talking to all the people Nathan needed to talk to, they went and sat down on the hood of someone’s car in the ‘VIP section’ of the party, which you could only tell was a different part of the party by the fact that there was a temporary fence put up. Max couldn’t help but think this wasn’t one of the Vortex Club’s best parties.

Downing the remains of his third drink, Nathan got up to go refill his cup, leaving Max alone and still clutching her first drink. Bored and alone, she began scanning the crowd, looking for someone whom she could talk with. Victoria was busy chatting and dancing with Taylor, so Max figured she’d better not bother her. Dana was nice enough to Max, but she seemed busy with a boy she was pretty sure was called Logan, or was it Lucas? She wasn’t certain, all she knew was that he was the jock type. Either way, Dana wasn’t really a viable option.

Max almost didn’t believe her eyes when they spotted the familiar blonde bun in amongst the crowd. Hopping off the car, Max almost ran over to Kate, mostly to confirm that it was in fact her standing in the middle of the party. “Max?” Kate asked as she neared.

“Hi, Kate.” She responded. After an awkward moment of neither of them knowing what to do or say, Kate opened her arms and stepped forward. Realising what she was doing, Max stepped forward as well and hugged Kate.

Kate Marsh was definitely one of the sweetest people Max had met so far in Blackwell. She was always so kind to everyone and she had this air of innocence that made Max want to do nothing but protect Kate from any harm that could come her way. Not that Max could actually picture anyone wanting to hurt someone as kind as her.

“So, you made it.” Nathan stated, walking up to the two girls and putting his arm back around Max’s waist.

Kate nodded, shifting on her feet as her hand went up to the cross around her neck. “Yeah, but I’ll probably only stay for a little while. I have some stuff I need to study.” Looking around the party she noticed that there was a few people staring at her, but she’d expected that. It wasn’t every day that she was seen at a party. Let alone one that was being thrown by the Vortex Club.

Nathan let out a laugh, “You and Max are both saying the same stuff.” Giving Max a slight tug, he pulled her backwards towards the VIP section again, “Come on you too, we’ll get you both something to drink.” He said as he guided them both to the ‘bar’ which was merely multiple cooler’s filled with drinks and a stack of cups sitting next to them in the back of someone’s ute.

“I’ve already got a drink, Nathan. I’m fine.” Max stated as he tried to hand her another cup.

“Oh, okay. Well, Kate, you can take this one.” Looking passed them, he seemed distracted for a moment before saying, “I’ll be right back, girls, you enjoy your drinks.” Putting the cup in Kate’s reluctant hands he wandered of into the party.

Kate and Max stood and spoke with one another for what felt like ages. Both girls were eternally grateful to not be the only one at the party who was feeling uncomfortable with the loud music, even louder people and the thoughts of all of their homework sitting untouched on their desks. After a while, Victoria came over wrapping her arms around both of the girls’ shoulder’s.

“Hey.” She drawled out, the slight smell of alcohol following her words. “What are you two doing standing over here? You should be having fun with the rest of us.” Grabbing the girls’ wrist’s she pulled them over to the rest of the Vortex Club (minus Nathan), “Come on.” She said as she pulled them along with her.

She wasn’t sure what she was expecting, but Max was expecting…something. She was expecting at least one person to react in some way to either her or Kate’s presence if not both. Instead no one so much as acknowledged their existence and just kept on going about their business. Whether that was talking, dancing, drinking, or a mixture of the three.

As she was just about to suggest to Kate that they sneak back over to their safe space by the cooler a hand wrapped around Max’s waist. Assuming that it was Nathan returning from where ever it was that he had gone, she rested her weight against them. “Someone’s getting comfy.” An only slightly familiar voice stated.

Turning to look at the face that the voice belonged to, Max found herself looking up at Hayden. The boy known at school for having his own personal harem of girls following him around at almost all times. “Oh, uh, sorry.” Max said as she moved away from him, “I thought you were someone else.” She continued.

With a slightly drunk laugh, “No harm done, sweetheart.” Hayden said, pulling Max back against him. She searched for Kate, Victoria, Nathan, someone who she recognised who she could send a visual signal to that she wanted to get away from this situation. “What’s your name again?” He asked, leaning his face down near hers.

“Max.” She curly responded, still searching the crowd for someone to make eye contact with her. Unfortunately it seemed that everyone was too busy with their own social lives to be paying enough attention to her to realise what was happening.

Pulling away from her, Hayden looked down at her, realisation dawning on his face, “Oh shit, you’re Nathan’s girl.” He said. Despite their now increased physical distance, his hand was still sitting on her waist.

She had never actually heard someone refer to her as ‘Nathan’s’ and she couldn’t really decide how she felt about it. Sure, Nathan had told her that he was going to show everyone at this party that she was ‘his’ but she didn’t think that there was going to already be people who knew that she was, “Uh…” was all that Max could manage to say as she stared at his shocked face.

In an instant someone else’s hands were cupping her face and pulling her into a kiss. She was soon staring into those familiar blue eyes of Nathan’s and she kissed him back. As she felt Hayden’s hand slide off of her back she closed her eyes and revelled in the feeling of Nathan’s lips on hers.

Just as suddenly as the kiss had started it stopped. Nathan pulled away and stared at Hayden who was still standing right next to Max, watching the couple. “Fuck off, Hayden.” Nathan said. Immediately doing as Nathan had said, Hayden walked off and searched for someone else to talk to.

Turning his attention back to Max, he gave her another quick kiss on the lips, “I guess I can’t leave your side now. I have to keep my eye on you.” A smirk was playing on his lips as he spoke.

Smirking right back at him, Max responded, “It would seem so.” Looking around the area once more. she asked, “Where’s Kate?”

Nathan’s mind went spilling back to the plan he was told to execute tonight, “Not sure. Why don’t you call her?” He did his best to sound as normal as possible as he spoke, but he wasn’t certain how convincing he was being. Needless to say, he was nervous that Max might figure out that he was hiding something.

Max thought that Nathan’s voice had wavered slightly as he had spoken, but she just put down to all of the drinks that he’d already had, “Yeah, okay.” Max said walking over to a quieter area with Nathan following her close behind. Pulling out her phone she found Kate’s number and hit ‘call’ hoping that despite the loud area they were in she’d still be able to hear that her phone was ringing.

After two rings, she answered, “Max?” She spoke loudly with the music echoing through the phone on both ends.

Speaking just as loudly, Max prayed that Kate would be able to hear and understand her over the music and the people around, “Yeah it’s me. Where are you?” She asked.

Luck was definitely on Max’s side today. Not only did Kate understand her, but Max could understand every word that Kate said back to her, “I’m with Stella out in the general area. Seeing as you were busy with Hayden I figured I’d go talk to her. We have a project we need to work on together for science class.”

Relief flooded through Max as she heard Kate, “Oh, okay. I’m glad you’re safe, for a second there I thought something had happened to you.”

“That’s so sweet of you to worry, Max, but I’m okay. I promise.” Kate sounded so genuinely happy that it warmed Max’s heart. There was no doubt in Max’s mind that Kate was definitely an angel.

The two said their good-byes over the phone and promised to meet up when they were ready to leave so that they could go back to the dorms together. And for the next two hours, Max stayed with Nathan by her side as she spoke with Victoria, Courtney and Taylor. At one point Taylor invited Max to join the Vortex Club, and Max did her best politely tell them that she needed to focus on her scholarship, but that she’d definitely think about. She was strangely honoured to be invited though.

Just like they had planned, Kate and Max met at the entrance to the VIP section and headed back to the school dormitories together. Discussing their homework and giving advice to each other along the way. Even planning a cafe trip together to study for their upcoming tests.

And as Nathan watched Kate walk away from the party completely unscathed he knew that he was going to be in some serious shit tomorrow morning. He was definitely not looking forward to the conversation with Mr. Jefferson that was definitely going to be taking place tomorrow.


	20. Phone Calls

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm sorry that this update is so late, I'm also sorry in advance for the short-ness of the chapter. I have been super busy with other writing's and just my life in general that I haven't really focused on this particular story. But I haven't forgotten about it, and I will continue to update it to the best of my abilities.

Five missed calls and eleven text messages. That’s what was waiting for Nathan when he woke up on Sunday morning…well, afternoon. And as he looked at the sender of all of them he felt his heart quickening in pace. Mark Jefferson. The text’s were angry and the voice mails were even more so.

Regret filled every crevice of Nathan’s body. Why hadn’t he just gone through with the plan? Why had he allowed himself to get so distracted by Max? If he had just done what he’d been told then Jefferson would be happy right now and not sounding like he wanted to rip Nathan’s skin off. Or worse.

Mustering up all of the courage he possibly could, Nathan hit ‘call’ on Jeffersons contact, reminding himself to breath as it rang in his ear. “I was wondering when you would finally call.” Jefferson’s voice was even more terrifying through a phone than Nathan had ever thought was possible.

The facade of confidence crumbling straight away, Nathan quickly spat out, “I am so sorry about last night.” It was a lame apology. One that would never pass as adequate for Jefferson, but there was nothing Nathan could do about it. Whenever Jefferson was even slightly disappointed in him he would find himself seeking his approval. It didn’t matter that he was finding himself fantasising about the older man’s death more and more often. He still wanted him to be proud.

“You had better have a good explanation for your terrible work ethic.” Always so professional. No matter where he was, he always sounded like he was in the middle of a meeting. As if Nathan was always interrupting something far more important than the issues at hand.

Of course he didn’t have a good explanation. ‘I was busy with my girlfriend’ was not a good explanation and was never going to ever be uttered out of Nathan’s lips. So instead, he had to wing it. “I just…” He paused, searching for something, anything, that could pass, “I just thought that it’d be a bit suspicious if something were to happen to Kate at the very first party she went to. It’d cause people to ask questions. I thought it’d be best to make it seem like the parties are a more normal thing. I’m sorry I didn’t discuss it with you.” His voice was desperate as it trailed of into nothing.

It was a good five minutes before Jefferson said anything. “Very well. Next time you change the plan tell me. Am I clear?”

“Yes.” Nathan whispered.

“Good.” Jefferson stated. Nathan prepared to hang up the phone, thinking the conversation was over when Jefferson continued, “Oh, and tell Miss Caulfield I said ‘hi’.” With that final sentence Jefferson killed the phone call, leaving Nathan sitting on his bed feeling as if he was about to break down and cry then and there. He knew about Max. Of course he knew about Max. The bastard knew about everything that happened in the school. There was nothing that he didn’t pick up on.

What the hell should he do? Should he stop seeing Max? No, he couldn’t do that. Nathan couldn’t lose the only person since Rachel he could see himself being truly happy with. What if they ran? They could run. If both of them were gone then nothing bad could happen to them. But then what about Victoria? Jefferson would definitely go after her. Maybe she could come along too…

As Nathan’s mind ran a mile a minute trying to come up with a plan, a strategy to make sure everyone he even remotely cared about was safe more and more questions arose for him. There was no way that he could get away from Jefferson. There was no way he could leave Max or Victoria. 

Nathan was well and truly stuck in the hell-hole that was Blackwell academy. Stuck in the twisted plans of one of his teachers. How on earth did Nathan ever think that a man like that was someone to look up to? How had he been so convincing?

The fear within Nathan was quickly being replaced with anger. There was no way that Nathan was going to let Jeffershit get anywhere near Max. He was going to find a way to make sure she stayed safe forever. Whatever that took.

Unfortunately, Nathan couldn’t see any way that he was going to be able to keep Kate Marsh safe from the sick hands of Fuckerson. And that thought broke his heart much more than Nathan ever thought it could have.


	21. Take A Break

It had been three hours since Nathan had spoken with the roach that was infesting his life, Mark Jefferson, and he wasn’t feeling any more sure about how he should approach any of the problems he was now finding himself facing. First, there was the fact that there was no way he could possibly get out of the Kate Marsh plan with his life now that he’s already failed once. Second, there was the knowledge that Jefferson knew about Nathan’s relationship with Max.

It was the second problem that he was finding so difficult to wrap his mind around. Nathan hadn’t been naive to think that Jefferson was never going to find out, but he had thought that he would have had a little bit more time to revel in the happiness that Max gave him before Jefferson swooped in and ruined it all. Just like he had done last time. Last time… No. He couldn’t think about Rachel in that way. Not after he’d been informed about what he’d done to her. It wasn’t right. He just needed to mourn her, regret his mistakes and move on. That’s all he could do.

What he needed to focus on right now was Max and making sure that she was safe, but how do you do something like that? Every solution Nathan thought up had a million and one problems attached to it. A million and one problems that had many solutions, but with each solution another five problems came to light. As he lay down on his couch, he battled with his own thoughts, trying to think of something. Something that had very few problems with simple solutions.

Unfortunately, there was one thing he knew that he could do. He could do it, but he wouldn’t. It would hurt too many people, leave too much debris in it’s path. There was no way in a million years that Nathan would ever even consider uttering those words to Max. That he would ever mutter, ‘I think we need a break’. The domino effect that those words would cause, oh god, Nathan didn’t even want to think about it.

Nathan was deep in thought trying to find a different solution, one that wouldn’t completely rip his heart out, when a knocking came from his door. Turning to face the sound, he let out a quiet ‘come in’ having a pretty strong feeling who it was on the other side thanks to the countless calls and genuinely concerned voice messages he’d been receiving over the passed few hours.

As the short brunette girl closed the door behind herself, Nathan said, “Hey, Max.” His voice was quiet, and almost sad. He mentally kicked himself for allowing himself to sound like that. Vulnerable. It was not something that Nathan Prescott was. At least, not in front of people.

Max walked her way across the room towards the boy who was sitting on his bed. Kneeling on the soft mattress she gave him a quick kiss before stating, “Hey, you weren’t answering any of my calls so I was worried that something had happened.”

There was no real reason for her first phone call. All Max had wanted to do was make sure that he’d gotten home okay and wasn’t too hung over after the party and when he hadn’t answered she just figured that he was still asleep. Then, a few hours later when he still hadn’t responded to her she started calling and texting him fairly frequently with no response.

Usually, she would assume that the person she was wanting to contact just wanted to be alone, but she couldn’t shake the feeling that there was something that was bothering Nathan. Thus, the nearly five o’clock visit.

As she sat on Nathan’s bed, Nathan couldn’t help but think that Max somehow managed to look both incredibly worried and ridiculously cute. Taking hold of her hand, he shook his head and said, “There’s nothing wrong. I’m just tired, that’s all.” Alright, so it wasn’t entirely true, there was something wrong. But the being tired part was the truth. All Nathan wanted to do was rest. To close his eyes and forget about everything for a little while.

After a moment of silence, Max readjusted herself on the bed. Positioning herself so that she was sitting on his bed with her back against the wall. Reaching out an arm to Nathan. When he took it, she gently pulled him towards her. “Lie down.” She told him, and he rested his head on her lap and closed his eyes.

Nathan had done a lot of things in his past relationships, but he couldn’t remember ever laying with his head on their lap and instantly feeling so completely content with despite all of the shit that was happening within his world. Max was running her fingers through his hair. There was no talking between them for a few minutes. There was only comfort flowing from Max and into Nathan.

It almost broke Nathan’s heart to speak into the silence, “I want to take a break.” He whispered, not opening his eyes.

Max’s hand instantly froze on the back of Nathan’s head. “A break? From us?” She asked. Of all the things she thought would happen today with Nathan, them taking a break was on the bottom of the list. It was so far down the list that she hadn’t even truly considered it to be an option. There wasn’t one thing that she could think would have caused him to want to break up. Max honestly thought that things were going well for them.

“No, hell no.” Nathan said, interrupting Max’s spiralling thoughts. “From school.” He added.

All that he needed was to get away from the school for a little bit. Not for long, just a few days. Being so close to Mark was truly starting to get to him, and Nathan wasn’t sure how much longer he’d be able to handle it.

Sitting up and moving away from Max’s hand, he looked her in the eyes and said, “Come with me.” Taking both her hands in his he continued, “It won’t be far away or for long. Just a few days, no more than three. We’ll go a few towns over. It’ll be fun, I promise.”

She pulled her hands out of Nathan’s gentle grip, “I, um, I need to think about it.” Max stammered out, getting up from the bed she left the room. She didn’t intend to be rude, but in the back of her mind there were thoughts telling her that her abrupt exit was exactly that. But there was a lot of things that she needed to think about. There was her scholarship, her future in photography, and if her parents found out she’d get a lecture long enough to last until she was thirty.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter did not go where I intended it to.


	22. Decision

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A very short update. I'm really sorry about how long it's been since I've last updated.

To go, or not to go? That was the question. and a very cliched one at that. However, the cliche of it all was the last thing on Max’s mind as she lay on her bed staring at the ceiling. No, what she was thinking about was Nathan and his proposition.

He’d been texting her every hour or so for the past day, asking her if she had come to a decision, asking if she was ignoring him, asking her to just respond so that he knew that she was okay. Needless to say the number of texts were leaving her even more confused. She knew that Nathan cared about her, but she didn’t realise he cared that much.

Picking up her phone she fired off a text.

_Max: —I can’t go with you_

_—I’m sorry_

_Nathan: —y not??_

_—did smethng hppen???_

_—dd i do somthgn wrng??_

_Max: —No, it’s none of that. I just can’t risk missing out on any school. I have a scholarship to maintain and my parents would kill me if they found out. I’m really sorry, Nathan. I have a different idea of something that we could do instead though._

_Nathan: —whts tht?_

_Max: —Camping this weekend_

_—On the beach_

_Nathan: —Ill thnk bout it_

Camping? On a beach? Like that was going to help him get away. What Nathan needed was to run. Far. Run as far away as he could possibly go and never look back. Take the people he loved and cared for and keep them safe. That was what he needed. Not a fucking camping trip by the ocean. What was that going to achieve? Nothing.

Throwing his phone across the room, he winced at the sound of it hitting the wall. He wasn’t mad at Max. This wasn’t her fault. It was his fault. If he just hadn’t gotten involved in the first place, none of this would be happening. Jefferson wouldn’t be breathing down his neck, or staring at him across the school campus. Nathan wouldn’t be looking over his shoulder everywhere he went and he might even have been able to get a decent nights sleep without needing whale noises or another person near him.

Why had he been so stupid? There was no way anything good could have come out of Jefferson and his sick obsession. The obsession that had transfixed Nathan, fascinated him. Why? Why did he have to look up to that creep when he first met him? Why was he still looking up to him? Nathan hated himself for the desire to impress him that was still lying under the surface of his skin.


End file.
